The Time Thief
by Raina1
Summary: "If you would know yourself, take yourself as starting point and go back to its source; your beginning will disclose your end."-ancient Egyptian proverb ON HIATUS
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Sometimes Yuugi thought if you screamed long enough, and loud enough, someone was bound to answer at last. Whether it was a god, a pharaoh, or the simple heroics of a mortal human being, there was always someone out there watching and listening. There was always someone who was going to come and help you if you needed it, if you wanted it badly enough.

However there was another side to this coin Yuugi knew that he had to admit to. Something that even for all his forward thinking and optimism, he knew to be a reality in the hot, arid world he had come to call a second, if faraway, home. That something was: the person that answered was not always, could not always, be someone else. A man had to answer his own internal cries for help, a man had to watch and listen for himself, and know deep in his heart what the right answer was – what the right course of action to be.

He'd known others that did anything for love… but he never suspected that one day, he, Yuugi Mutou, would be doing just this very thing.

_Fwp! Fwp!_ Sucking in breath, Yuugi ducked instinctively as the arrows flew over his head, splitting hairs, yet thankfully not his skin. He winced, biting his bottom lip, struggling with his current predicament. The only possible way was straight ahead, toward the danger. If he ran now, he might be able to take the advantage back and force his enemy to readjust his strategy, or otherwise, surprise him enough to distract him away from the pharaoh. In the broader picture, Yuugi calmly realized, his life, in this moment, didn't matter. What mattered here was what was yet to come. What mattered here was the whole world.

_The world never stops for two people_.

He took a shuddery breath to contain a sob, allowing just one tear to make a dusty track down his pale cheek. He glanced down at the precious burden nestled against his bare, scratched chest. _I can't let him have this_, he thought. _He's changed history enough, ruined enough lives, taken enough lives_. Swallowing, he took one, long, deep breath, and slowly got to his feet. He looked back over his shoulder and scanned the horizon. His chest twisted painfully at the almost cookie cutter silhouette of his beloved _mou hitori no boku_. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, allowing himself to relive and cherish all that had passed between them - past, present, and future.

"We will meet again," he whispered affectionately to those memories, and to the regal figure at the center of them, before opening his eyes again, the fierce resolve lighting them with a strength and ferocity he had never felt in his life. This was more than the determination of a gamer. If this was what it felt like to be a warrior, he knew he had it in him to take to the task. He locked eyes for a moment with the crimson gaze of his other, before touching his lips, and his heart, in silent tribute.

Atem's eyes widened in horror as he saw what Yuugi was about to do. "NO!"

But Yuugi was already off, his feet pounding against the sandy terrain. Dimly he heard Atem shouting after him, begging him to come back, but he chose not to heed his cries. He knew as well as Yuugi did what had to be done in order for things to be set back the way they were meant to be set. He would understand this someday, Yuugi knew for a fact. When Atem would have to look into Zorc's evil gaze and he too would know what had to be done. What would always have to be done, no matter its cost.

_There has never been a time for us_, Yuugi thought as he plunged toward his certain end. _Never, not in all the time we've had, there has never been a world that Yuugi and Atem could live in that wouldn't ask us to die for it, because it knows we will. No matter how it tears us apart inside, no matter how much we want to be together, always. The world will never allow it. She would have us both to herself, but not each other. Never each other. _Yuugi smiled a not-smile, and for the first time in his life, he felt a hint of rebellion toward his usual altruism and countered: _You're a selfish mistress, world._

Ignoring the piteous cries pleading for him to stop, Yuugi focused on the man moving out into the open battlefield to meet him. He smiled ferociously as he caught the grim determination Yuugi threw back at him. Beyond him his archers were lowering their weapons. Were they thinking Yuugi was rushing forward to surrender the very object they had met here today in this valley to fight over? A thin smile stretched across the young man's lips as he slowed to a stop, panting, sweating bullets under the harsh rays of the sun.

The Time Thief strode forward confidently, wearing an answering grin of satisfaction of his own. "I see little Yuugi has come to his senses," he greeted the boy, "unlike His Majesty, who only seems intent on securing his place in the hereafter."

"Yes." Yuugi agreed vaguely. "I have come to my senses."

"Then you are surrendering the device."

Yuugi smiled again, his gamer's smile, the smile he usually gave an opponent when he was about to place down the trap card that won him the day. "Not exactly."

The Time Thief frowned. "What do you mean?"

Yuugi unwrapped his precious burden and held the glittering contraption up between his hands before him. He saw the reaction that had on his adversary, and kept his smile calm and serene. "So much trouble for one man," he told him, again forcing himself to ignore the heartfelt cries of the pharaoh as he fought against the grips of his high priests holding him back. He heard Seth shouting at their own battalion, bellowing out the orders Atem was too incensed with panic to give. _Good man, Seth_, Yuugi thought with a quick burst of mild affection for the man who he would come to known as Kaiba Seto one day. _No matter what you may do in the future, your obedience to your first and truest duty now helps Atem more than you will ever know. _

"Tell me," he continued, "what did you plan on doing once Pharaoh was dead? Taken the throne for yourself? Gone back to where ever in time you came from?" He chuckled in spite of his racing pulse. "What was your real goal I wonder?"

The Time Thief glowered, clenching his fists at his sides. "You little whelp. You never planned on going back, did you?"

Yuugi grinned. "Now you're learning." He took a deep breath and shouted to the sky above as loud as he could, his passionate voice echoing across the valley: _"May Pharaoh Atem live forever!"_

Then he brought the device down and smashed it against the ground. The glass face of it shattered, the shards scattering and glittering across the sand like lost stars fallen from the heavens.

The second that happened, Yuugi became faintly aware of a light _fwp!_ then a burning lancing sensation in his chest. He looked down and saw what the trouble was. An arrow had been shot through his chest. The flint head stuck out from his back, glistening with blood.

He thought he heard Atem scream his name, but he couldn't be sure, so much was happening so fast. Through blurring eyes, he watched the Time Thief smile, swirl around his black cape, and begin walking back toward his side of the field. He opened his mouth to speak, but a thin trickle of blood came out instead. He felt his legs buckle beneath him before carrying him the rest of the way to the desert floor.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: _If I owned this, you can bet there would have been more puzzle shipping in it. Kazuki Takahashi is the owner and creator of Yugioh. I'm only borrowing his characters to tell you a fan fiction after my own fashion._**

**Timeline: _Post-series for Yuugi and pre-series for Atem. As this is a time travel story, it's the only way a time line like this is possible._**

**Pairings_: Yuugi/Atem_**

**Warnings: _This story contains adult content, suggestive themes_, _violence, some language, and a shounen ai romance between two young men. I would ask that you would please refrain from making derogatory remarks pertaining to this as no one is forcing you to read this story. _**

* * *

**_The Time Thief_**

By Raina1

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The sound of a clay pot shattering outside of the room was his first and only warning. A minute amount of dust stung the youth's eyes, causing them to water. His nostrils itched painfully but he dared not betray his hiding place with a traitorous sneeze. Squeezing as much of his body as he could under the table, he bit his lip until it bled when he heard a scream come from exactly outside of the door to the kitchens. His body jerked and protested against what his mind hollered at his heart to do. In his heart of hearts, he was no coward, far from it, but no one wanted to listen. One of his former mentors had taken his sword from him, shoved him into this dark room, and hissed at him to stay where he was, and not to come out no matter what happened. If he didn't live through this night, all would be lost. His people could not – would not – let that happen. Despite his best protests to the contrary, here he was huddled under a table like a frightened child!

"Where is he?" growled a menacing, booming voice. "I know you're hiding him from us!"

"Die, you -!"

The snarled reply was quickly silenced by the sound of a violent struggle before finally being abbreviated by a strangled gargling sound. The young man's eyes snapped open when he realized what had happened. Helplessly he cast his gaze to the bottom of the door, and there he saw the horrifying truth of what had happened. A steady stream of blood ran under the door. The ominous crimson river that crept toward the table the pharaoh had crammed his small body under. Muffling a cry of anguish, he bit down on the flesh of his knuckles, trying to contain all of his rage and grief. A thin trickle of blood ran from where his teeth broke the skin.

The door broke down at that moment, splintering under the impact of the barbarian's foot like so much kindling. Holding his breath, the pharaoh watched the muscular; sweat slicked legs and feet of the enemy soldier as they carried their owner into the darkened kitchen. Tears of rage ran unhindered in a continuous stream down his face as he watched the man proceed to search and destroy every hiding place he could find. Each resounding crash he felt as knives plunging into his heart; his breath became shallow and rapid as the sweat trickled down his back. Finally he reached the table the boy was hidden under and up turned it easily, slamming it against the far wall. Too terrified to move, he peered up at the intruder, his dark red eyes wide with fear.

"There you are." The Hyksos soldier was an ugly, foul creature, appearing every inch the monster his nightmares made them out to be. In his hand was a crude mace, still dripping with the blood of the man he had just murdered out in the hall. The pharaoh bowed his head, biting his lips together, before lifting his gaze to meet those of his enemy's. They were defiant now, hard, narrow, and as cutting as two broken shards of glass. A child of Re should never show fear. _Though you feel it in the very blood of your body, in every corner of your soul_! _Never let your enemy have it!_ He screamed a curse at the villain standing over him, as loudly as he possibly could, before pulling out his dagger and lunging forward. The time for self-preservation had come to an end. He knew enough now of what was about to come to pass that he no longer cared about his own life. Not after so many had given up theirs for his.

The heathen lifted his mace.

Many minutes later, a young man wearing a dark cloak entered the room. His eyes were the color of coal, and his long lustrous black hair burned almost red in the light of the torch he carried with him. Holding it over the spot where the table had been, he stared impassively down at the still body of the boy. His eyes were closed and his expression was almost peaceful. The tears on his young face glistened in the light of the flickering flame. A gold dagger lay near his limp hand, unstained.

Without lifting his gaze, he asked the question, if only to confirm what he now knew for certain. "Is that all of them?"

"Yes sir."

A thin smirk tickled the man's upper lip. "Excellent." Kneeling upon one knee, he whispered to the body of the young man with evident satisfaction. "Now history will be as it should be. All shall know your name, Pharaoh, but you will never be able to stop me."

The other man laughed uproariously and followed his mysterious benefactor into the darkness.

* * *

Hours later, a dreadful silence had fallen over the palace. It was the silence that accompanied the mustiness of an opened tomb, a kind of dry, cold stilling of the very air surrounding it, as if the very wind itself had been petrified into place. The bodies of the dead laid in corridors and hallways. Blood was smeared on walls and floors in grotesque displays. Every room and foyer contained a presentation of affliction and horror much worse than the last. The only signs that life still existed within the palace of death were the faint whispery movements of cats as they padded and picked impassively among the dead. Still there was no one to see a small figure running toward the desert palace gates, left so carelessly open to the barren beyond. It hesitated briefly, dubious of its luck. A faint cry emitted from it when the realization of what that meant sank in. Gasping, totally in a panic now, it plunged into the courtyard, and immediately halted dead on its feet.

"Oh… oh my god…" Hands rose of their own accord to cover its owner's mouth. Leaning over, pressing his hands against his knees, he sucked in his breath to prevent a wave of nausea from overcoming his senses. He had never in his life seen a massacre. There was blood everywhere, so much of it that it reflected the very moon above. Quickly pulling out part of his shirt, he covered his nose to prevent the pungent stench of death from overwhelming him completely. His whole being screamed against what he knew had to be done now. There was no helping for it at this point. Thrice over he damned his situation, the nameless person whom had done this act of depravation, and the specter that had brought him to this scene. Heart clenching in sorrow, he made himself run into the darkened maw of the palace, unprepared for the hell he would discover within.

By the time he reached the nexus of the chateau, his body gave out from the exhaustion of delaying his sickened reaction. He fell upon his hands and knees and vomited bile. How could anyone do such a thing? Who hated someone this much that he would without a blink or a second thought do something so horrible? And why _him_? He wanted to give up right then and there, yet the memory in his head echoed mercilessly.

"There is nothing that can be done to prevent this, as I do not have the power to send you back so far. If I send you now, and should you succeed, there yet may be hope."

"What? But why me?" He protested hotly. "I thought I was done with all of this ancient Egyptian bullshit!"

"You will never be 'done with all of this ancient Egyptian bullshit,' Chosen One. For your fate and his are intertwined no matter where in time either of you reside." A weighty pause, a faint suggestion of a sigh, and then, "I am so very sorry."

_Not as sorry as I'm going to be,_ he thought glumly, spitting in the dust between his hands. _In fact, I'm already there. _He waited for his body to stop dry heaving before he found the strength to climb to his feet again. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his fists tightly against his sides. _Do it for him,_ he wrested open his eyes and plunged forward. _He would have done it for you - hell he _did_ do it for you_. As he began to calm behind his mask of determination, he focused on the information he had been told, of what little of it he could understand. There was a chance to set things right, a very faint one, from the looks of it. There had to be one, otherwise he would not have been sent here. Still even with this hope in mind, the dread took hold of him bodily, and refused to let go. _I'm not stupid to believe in having that kind of luck, not from the looks of where this is going._

Blocking out the gruesome sights, he searched each room, and each floor, calling out hesitantly. No one answered. Whoever had done this had been absolutely thorough. Any who may still have been breathing would be long dead by the time any help would arrive. It was why it was important that he was here. _He_ was the ace in the hole where there should not have been one, the wild card in the deck of history his new enemy had not foreseen. _I've always been good at games,_ he thought as he stepped over the threshold to what must have been a kitchen, ignoring the dead man by the door that appeared as if he had been bludgeoned to death. He swallowed several times as the saliva pooled in his mouth and clenched his teeth against another lurch of his innards. _I'm not sure if I'll be winning this one…_ Unlike several of the other rooms, this one was almost pitch black, save for a few shafts of moonlight falling through a small window near the ceiling. One such sliver of silver fell upon the golden anklet of someone's foot. This was all he could see of him for the rest of the body's owner remained hidden in shadow.

He didn't know what caused him to be so sure that what he was supposed to be looking for was here in this dark room, except he knew it like he'd been told, as if he'd seen it to know it for a fact. Remembering his hastily packed supplies he dug into his pocket and procured a small flashlight. Approaching the ankle, he braced, before trailing the beam up the length of the body, his heart pounding. The gold on his person was familiar… he had seen these particular pieces of jewelry before… and there, yes, he was wearing the God Pyramid! When the beam of light fell on the familiar handsome face, bloodied and silent, he gasped. His knees gave out of their own accord as he fell beside the man lying on the floor. He called out the young man's name a few times, touching his face, alarmed at how cool the skin felt under his fingers. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, he appeared mostly unharmed, yet those were the least of his concerns. What he worried about was the blood covering half of his face. Gingerly he moved the head to ascertain the severity of the wound. Nerving himself, he gently, gently palpated the region, and felt relief. It seemed as if the blow had only been glancing, not crushing or shattering his skull. By no means did it mean he would survive, there still could be other internal damage he couldn't see. He bent down and put his ear next to the pharaoh's nose and mouth, while sticking two fingers against his neck. A heavy sigh of relief drained out of him, feeling the flutter under his fingertips. A pulse, he had a pulse, and he was _breathing_. Good signs. _Very_ good signs.

_Can I risk moving him? Maybe. But first, I have to see if I can wake him up._ There would be no helping it if he were in a coma. He wouldn't know what to do then, with no modern hospitals around to bring him to. Again he touched the youth's cheek before he knelt to his ear and whispered his name, shaking him gently, but firmly as he did. The deep groan that emerged from the other's lips startled him.

"Mmhhmm."

He gasped, unable to believe his luck. Shining the light directly into the other's face experimentally, he thrilled when a frown marred his tan features as he tried to turn his head away from the disturbance. For a brief moment his eyes opened. The pupils immediately dilated when the flashlight shone into them, before they squeezed shut once more. Unconsciously his arm came up and tried to knock the annoying light away, the gold band on his wrist brushing against his savior's pale cheek. He caught the arm, and ran his hand up it until he caught the hand, grasping it tightly in his own. At the other's next moan, he leaned in, his words urgent, and slightly garbled, because he did not know the language well. "Pharaoh? Can you hear me?"

The pharaoh nodded, wincing, and still trying to turn away from the painful light. Realizing, he placed the light on what looked like a small stool so that the beam shone across them. Slipping one arm under the pharaoh's shoulders, he managed to get him to sit up against the near wall with very little trouble. While he continued to fight to come to, the other had pulled out a cloth from the small backpack he had with him and cleaned off some of the blood from his face. At last, the pharaoh managed to get his eyes to stay open and focus. He caught sight of the other's face and blinked. His expression was one of shock when he saw that whoever it was that was helping him looked almost exactly like himself, save for the pale skin, the bluish purple color of the eyes, and the very strange style of clothing he wore. Concentrating on drawing one breath from the next seemed the easier task, so he concentrated on that for a few moments. At last, most of the dizziness swirling in his vision, and his head, could be managed to a bearable degree. Then he felt able to speak.

"_Pet ner renek_?"*

His doppelganger smiled sadly. Of course he wouldn't remember him… they would not meet again for another 3000 years. "I'm Yuugi Mutou."

The pharaoh frowned, feeling around for his Item, his fingers relaxing when they encountered the familiar pendent. "Yuugi?" He paused, as if trying to make his thoughts work. "How…"

Yuugi touched the other's mouth, silencing him. "We'll get to that later. Right now I need to get you out of here and somewhere safe."

The other focused on him more fully. "Do I… know you?"

Yuugi smiled again, gently. "No. But I am your friend. It's presumptuous for me to ask for your trust right now, but I'm going to need it. For your sake, if for no one else's."

There was a long pause as the pharaoh ruminated upon this. "I have already been betrayed." He whispered, his eyes drifting shut. "How can I trust anyone…"

Yuugi reached over to where he spied a dagger out of the corner of his eye and pressed it earnestly into the other's hand, curling his fingers tightly around it. "Because I'm giving you this." Holding the tip of it against his heart, he looked right into the anguished eyes of his other. Letting go, he remained where he sat, their gazes locked together. This was it, his first and last gesture of good faith… and he would not be amazed if it were to fail on this bloody night of treachery.

But the swift death he almost expected did not come. The dagger slowly, slowly disengaged itself from over the hammering heart of his savior. "Be certain," he began quietly, placing the weapon back into its sheath, "that should we survive this night, you will be rewarded."

Yuugi shook his head and wrapped his arm about the pharaoh's shoulders again, carefully helping the other to his feet. He noticed with a grim sort of humor that it seemed his other self would always be just a little taller. "Should we survive this night," he replied as together they made their way out of the room, out of the palace, into parts unknown, "your being alive will be reward enough for me."

Yuugi knew right away that hiding out in the village outside the palace walls was ludicrous, as who knew what further danger might lie in wait for them there. For all they knew, their new enemies were just waiting for them to come waltzing through. It also didn't help the streets were eerily empty and desolate, reminding Yuugi of the ghost towns he saw in the spaghetti westerns he used to watch with Jounouchi. Nodding resolutely, he hurried back into the courtyard where he had left the pharaoh leaning up against a broken wagon. He swayed, barely managing to remain standing as the sharp pain in his temple kept trying to overtake him. Placing his hands on his shoulders to steady him, Yuugi glanced around them, trying to see if his solution would appear before his eyes. In that fashion, he lit on an idea, before he returned to meet the pharaoh's tired gaze once again. "Can you ride?" He nodded, wearily. Yuugi winced sympathetically. He hated to have to continue to push him like this but until he was sure they could find safe quarters, there was no helping it.

He wished not for the first time that one of his friends had been allowed to go with him, because he sure could have used their help. Unfortunately Shadi had been very insistent on there being no time for gathering anyone, and simply did what he wanted in shoving Yuugi toward the circle of light that had appeared in the air before them. For not the last time, he cursed the ancient spirit under his breath. The way these Egyptian specters kept yanking him around, what with his life, and his destiny, he was downright sick to _death_ of it. Some part of him wanted to start shaking the injured man leaning on him for ruining his life so thoroughly. It was a very small part, though, because he knew he couldn't be angry with him for this. It wasn't his fault this happened to him.

They made their way over to the tethered horse, halting when the creature whinnied at their approach. Yuugi made the half-conscious pharaoh sit down on the ground, head bowed, while he cautiously drew near to the creature. The animal calmed when he touched its neck and started petting it gently, speaking to it the nonsense of comfort. Admittedly Yuugi didn't have any experience with horses. He speculated that they were probably like most other animals, and could be placated with kind handling and words. It had that dusky scent he remembered once from visiting a farm perfumed with just a touch of desert sand. This one was restless because of the blood on the air, yet when it sensed the serenity in the human beside it; it managed to stop tossing its head so much. Satisfied that their mount wasn't going to run off on them, Yuugi returned to where his charge was sitting and cradling his head. The bleeding had mostly stopped now, thank god, nevertheless it was going to take more than that for the wound to heal. The sooner they got out of here, the sooner that could happen.

"I need you to get up," he told him, forcing the pharaoh's chin up so they were looking each other in the eye. The other man's gaze was dull and unfocused. Keeping his hand cupped to his cheek, he politely, yet insistently, added, "Can you do that for me?" He nodded again and his eyes closed briefly. "I know this is a lot to ask of you," Yuugi murmured, "but I'll need your help getting on the horse. I'll pull you up after. I promise you can rest after we get away from here."

That last sentence seemed to work, for the pharaoh became a little more awake then, and the clouds in his eyes cleared. He willingly sank down to one knee, cupping his hands together to give Yuugi a leg up. For his trouble, Yuugi clambered inelegantly over the animal's broad back, throwing both arms around the beast's neck until the rest of him stayed where it was supposed to without slipping to the ground again. Once he felt secure, he reached to take hold of the arm of the hand still clutching his clothes, using the other to hang on to the horse's mane. The pharaoh made a half hearted attempt to jump up behind Yuugi, faltered, and started to slip off, his limbs suddenly going slack. Yuugi seized him under the arms and with all of his might, panting, sweating, and grunting, pulled the other up, huffing and puffing until the other boy's leg was on the other side of the animal's back. Once he felt that he wasn't going to fall again, the pharaoh collapsed against Yuugi, his chin resting on his shoulder, arms hanging like noodles against his sides.

Yuugi panicked. Falling unconscious for a head injury victim was _not_ a good thing. "No, no, don't do that!" Awkwardly, he twisted around in the saddle and shook the pharaoh vigorously, smacking his cheeks hard enough to hurt. "Wake up! You can't fall asleep!" Nothing. "Come on!" Slap, slap. Shake. Nothing. _"ATEM!"_

Woozily Atem opened one eye first and then the other. He squinted at his savior in the darkness, and gave him a kind of dreamy smile. He said something Yuugi couldn't understand that had a kind of singsong quality to it. Then he lifted his hand and brushed his knuckles against Yuugi's cheek. He felt his face heat up and he ducked his head, even as Atem's head met to rest on Yuugi's shoulder once again. The young man swallowed. Wow. So that was what Atem looked like when he was flirting. Well, it didn't make any sense to get weird about it. Sometimes a blow to the head made a person act strange.

"Atem," he began, and spoke louder when he didn't get a response. "_Atem_."

Finally: "Hmm?"

"Where is the safest place?"

Atem muttered and lifted an arm, gestured limply, before letting the limb drop again.

"Sorry. I didn't catch that."

"Temple," was the next utterance, clearer than before, sounding slightly drugged; he said something else then, but it wasn't anything Yuugi could understand.

"Which way?"

"East."

Yuugi sighed, trying to control his impatience. _He's hurt, he's hurt, don't get mad_. "When I point the horse outside of the gates, which direction would I go?" He said all of that rather badly, but fortunately Atem seemed able to understand.

"Right. Straight. Follow…" more words he couldn't understand "… stay along Nile…" Mustering the strength to sit up, Atem forced his eyes to stay open, and reached around Yuugi to grip the horse's reins. The hard glaze of determination appeared in the pharaoh's eyes, dry with pain, a thin sheet of sweat on his brow, and dampening the roots of his hair. Yuugi couldn't help a little moment of awe, seeing him like that. "I will show you," he managed to growl. To encourage him, Yuugi released his hold on the reins, and leaned back into the other.

"I know you will," he murmured.

With a light tap and a surprisingly robust "YAH!" Atem sent the horse into a gallop. Moments later they left the scene of death and destruction behind them as the pharaoh and his strange savior fled into the desert night.

* * *

Yuugi would remember that fateful ride along the bank of the Nile and into the cool sands of the desert beyond it. There was the wind in his hair, the give and take of the muscles of the animal under him, the warmth of Atem against his back, and the corner of the God Pyramid jamming painfully into his spine. Wind-blown tears flew from the corners of his eyes as he squinted into the arid darkness. His left ear quickly grew damp from the hot breath of the young man breathing over his shoulder, and for that, all he could hear was the pounding of hooves and the sound of his own heart in his head. His own lungs seemed bereft of oxygen as he was forced to move with the horse, as the man behind him instinctively fell into the rhythm of the gallop. Once or twice he was almost unseated by the violence of their journey. Atem's surprisingly muscular arm snaked around and across his chest and waist, roughly shoving him up against himself, the rescue motions almost erotic in their implementation. Yuugi heard himself gasping, embarrassed by the unintended intimacy, and his own lurid thoughts. It wasn't easy to curb them, despite the terrifying situation. Atem, even when he had just been a spirit in a puzzle, to Yuugi had always possessed of a kind of rare, raw sexuality that was hard to ignore. After all, the spirit's confidence, and very personification of that, revealed itself in the way he manifested before Yuugi when he so chose. He seduced everyone he smirked at, even though both his enemies and his friends didn't know it. With an aura so unattainable and unbeatable, was it no wonder why most pursued him so passionately, either to defeat him in a duel, or to try to win his heart?

Or try to kill him. Let's not forget about that one.

They reached the aforementioned temple near toward the break of dawn, as the very first tickle of light appeared over the distant horizon. Yuugi slipped down off the horse as soon as the beast slowed from the easy canter it had settled into during the final mile to their destination. He turned around to help Atem dismount, and yelped as the pharaoh practically fell on top of him, causing them both to land in a boyish heap of arms and legs on the ground. Quickly he moved to untangle them, urging Atem to stand once again, and stumbled as the man nearly fell on him _again_. Glaring at the horse with a sharp "Stay!" he made Atem sit on the temple stair while he tied the animal to a nearby cactus. He held no hope that it would keep the horse from escaping, but he supposed that ought to be the least of his worries for the moment. Returning to Atem, he helped him ascend the stair until they had reached the temple, moving past the large columns that supported it, until they reached a pair of heavy double doors. Grunting, heaving, Yuugi pushed against one of them with all of his might until it budged open enough for them to enter. As they did, he called out, hoping against hope that there were occupants still within its walls.

Yuugi's heart sank when no one called back. The only answer he got was the sound of his own voice echoing back to him. Well, perhaps it was for the best, he reasoned. Until he could discover who wanted Atem and the whole palace dead so badly, it was probably better that no one else knew where they were.

Spying what looked like a good resting place, he helped Atem over to it, and announced, probably to the other boy's relief, that he could lie down. Hearing this, the pharaoh practically collapsed onto it, no never mind that it was made of cold stone and probably felt really uncomfortable against his bare legs and almost bare chest. Casting his gaze around, Yuugi explored the small space they dwelled in, and felt some relief when he found a pile of reed mats stacked up neatly against one wall. Using these he created makeshift cushioning for the pharaoh's head and legs, before dropping a couple of them on the ground for himself. Before he lay down, he decided to medicate some of the other's injuries. He opened his small backpack and used the first aid kit inside to attend to the worst of Atem's cuts, and used some of the hand wipes to clean off the rest of the dried blood on his face. Atem silently bore the ministrations without notice or complaint.

At last, Yuugi was finished, and he simply sat there, taking in the profile of the young man he thought he would never see again in his life. Absently he stole a lock of those jagged blonde bangs they shared and pushed it so it wouldn't stick to his wound after it fully dried. In the morning, when there was more light, and things made more sense, he decided he would properly bandage it with the gauze he had in his kit. It was truly a surreal experience, to be sitting next to the pharaoh he had used to think of as his other self, as a separate living, breathing person. His eyes fell to his chest, watching the steady rise and fall of his breath, the faint recoil of his heart, tracing the contours of his musculature with his eyes. Catching himself ogling the other, he blushed, and shook his head. "You were always too good looking for your own good, _mou hitori no boku_," he murmured. He smiled, realizing how he had, without thinking, addressed Atem. "Though you probably wouldn't appreciate being called that now, would you." He smiled again, gazing fondly at the angular face of the young man in peaceful repose, letting his fingers tease over the top of one rough tanned hand. "I'm still your _aibou_," he whispered, lightly running a finger over the edge of the future Millennium Puzzle, "no matter if you remember me or not after this."

Finally, too exhausted to stand, let alone sit up anymore, Yuugi collapsed onto his own reed mats, crossing his arms behind his head, wondering if he was dreaming, and when, if ever, he would wake again.

Heck, now that he thought back on it, this whole _thing_ was unreal. Hadn't he been sitting in his parents' den office, quietly studying like any other aspiring college student? Just minding his own business, not looking for trouble, pursuing a field of study that was making everyone and the kitchen sink happy. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, that ghost Shadi appeared in the room like he had every right to be bursting in unwelcome into other people's homes. Common courtesy had certainly died in a major way in whatever afterlife's double doors he chose to waltz in and out of, that was for sure! You would think he would be used to this by now. Unfortunately, for one Yuugi Mutou of Domino City, it seemed doomed to be a staple of his life he would never fully accept.

"Hello Yuugi."

Yuugi jerked back in his office chair, throwing his arms up protectively. "Whoa!" Once he got a good look at the transparent figure standing before him, he eased off, frowning, confused. "Shadi? What… How did…? I thought… I thought this was over with. I thought… What do you want?"

To his credit, Shadi had the good grace to appear a little chagrined. "Forgive me for once again interrupting your life. I do not often make a habit of this, as it seems sadly, such things refuse to be put to rest."

Frankly, Yuugi was lost. "What things? Tell me."

"There has been a disturbance in the natural flow of history. Someone has interrupted the timeline. Atem, the once-pharaoh, and the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, whom you helped lead into his rightful place, has been killed by a hand that is not his own."

Yuugi was drawing a blank. "But… he's always been dead. He was dead when he was in the Puzzle and when I knew him." Pause. "Unless you're saying…" He froze, his eyes growing wide with horror. "You're… not saying that are you?"

Shadi bowed his head ruefully. "I wish it were not so. Why, I do not yet know, and by whom, I cannot say."

"Can't say or won't say?" Yuugi shot back skeptically, masking his anxiety with angry impatience. "Hurry up, unlike you, I haven't got all night."

"My knowledge is not so great; it is unfortunate for me to say. However, what I can tell you is that there is a way to be certain Atem will survive the massacre."

"_Massacre_?" Just what the hell had happened 3000 years ago? "Oh no," it dawned on him. "Oh hell no. Not me again, you've got to be kidding me."

"There is nothing that can be done to prevent this, as I do not have the power to send you back so far. If I send you now, and should you succeed, there yet may be hope."

"What? But why me?" He protested hotly. "I thought I was done with all of this ancient Egyptian bullshit!" Disregarding, of course, the textbooks lying open in the desk before him that contradicted that declaration.

"You will never be 'done with all of this ancient Egyptian bullshit,' Chosen One." Shadi seemed rather irritated at the resistance he was getting from the normally soft spoken, agreeable Yuugi Mutou. Well, screw him, he was dead! It wasn't his life he was interfering with! "For your fate and his are intertwined no matter where in time either of you reside." A weighty pause, a faint suggestion of a sigh, and then, "I am so very sorry."

His fear and sadness finally won over his anger and Yuugi seemed to deflate from the inside out. "I'm the only one who can save Atem, aren't I." It wasn't a question. He closed his eyes and sighed, slumping down in his chair. Gradually he lifted his head, so heavy, so tired. Whatever the danger he was in, his heart knew he could not say no. Not to the pharaoh who had taught him in more ways than one that he, Yuugi, was someone of worth, someone to be relied on, and someone to embrace in love with no conditions or reservations. Atem, for his mightiness and high standards of honor, had looked into the soul of Yuugi Mutou and found someone he was willing to protect, to fight to the death for, even at the cost of his own soul. How could he not do the same in return? He'd done it once before, he would do it again.

Damn you mou hitori no boku, he thought with an affectionate smile on his lips. Even rattling your saber in the afterlife, you still manage to pull me into your story again. I guess we were always meant to be with each other. He sighed. Truth of it all, he really wanted to see his former other self again, if only just to see and talk with him one more time.

"When."

"Now."

Yuugi's head snapped up. "Now? I don't get to take someone with me? What if I can't do this by myself?"

Shadi shook his head solemnly. "You have my apologies for the haste in which this must be done but I cannot allow any other to take this journey."

Journey? What journey? It was useless to argue – or ask questions. Yuugi stood up. "All right, just let me go grab my bag. I've got a couple of things I'd like to take with me."

"Very well. But do not delay."

"Yeah, yeah." Yet despite his sarcastic tone, Yuugi took the stairs two at a time to his room. Casting about, he seized the travel backpack he always kept lying around. It had been a habit he'd formed while he had been in the possession of the Millennium Puzzle. You could never know when the next creep crawled from the shadows to drag you halfway around the world at a moment's notice. Shoving a couple of other things into it, mostly clothes, and quickly tossing a canteen of water, a couple of water bottles, and snacks, he finally felt he was ready to leave. Suddenly he halted sharply at the threshold, closing his eyes once. I can't leave like this. He spun back to his desk and grabbed a sheet of note paper, which, coincidentally, he kept a whole pad of inside the box he had once kept the Puzzle in.

_Jii-chan, everyone,_

_Don't worry about me, I'm all right. Someone needs my help very badly and if I don't save him, everything he is supposed to do will never happen. I love you all. Please forgive me._

_-Yuugi_

A pathetic good bye if there was ever one. Yuugi knew he didn't have the time to say all of the things he needed to say to everyone. Tears briefly stung his eyes as he charged down the stairs. By the time he reached the den, however, his eyes were dry, and were filled with the hard steel of resolve. Shadi was waiting right where he had left him, appearing interestingly contrite for someone who did the dead man's stare to perfection.

Before Shadi all but shoved him into the circle of bright light that appeared in mid air, Yuugi made pause. He wanted to make something clear. "I'm not doing this because you're making me, or because if I don't, then history will get screwed up. I'm doing this because it's Atem."

Shadi inclined his head in a gesture of respect and understanding. It was enough for Yuugi, who flashed him a grim, thin lipped smile before turning to face the growing bright orb before him. Taking a deep breath, he clung to the straps of his backpack, and stepped into oblivion.

* * *

When he came to, it was in a vague fog of harrowing pain. He cringed when he thought to move his head; the excruciating pain shot up his neck and back into the side of his skull. Tolerable, though, compared to last night. He was relieved when he reached up to touch the wound to find that his head remained intact despite the fact it felt as if it were in many pieces. Instead of encountering the sticky sensation of a recently formed scab, they encountered a kind of bandage that covered part of his head. He was dismayed to discover that a patch of hair on that side had been shorn off, and from the feel of it, in a rather disorderly manner. Pressing the heel of his hand to the side of his head, he slowly, carefully sat up, biting back a groan. Save for his head, it appeared the rest of him was relatively intact. He peered at the strange types of bandage that covered his cuts, probing at them with his fingertips. They felt slick, shiny, and rather smooth. They were sticky on one side when he peeled one end up, before he pressed it back down again. Best to leave them where they were for the present.

Lifting his chin, Atem began to register where he was. His heart sank with the crestfallen sag of his shoulders when he realized that his hope that last night had been a mere horrific dream proved false. He was indeed lying on a cold funeral slab inside of a temple. If the wounds had not been proof enough, his current location cemented it. Making himself look around, he was a bit startled to see a small bag lying nearby, along with two cylinder containers that appeared to have water inside of them. These rested beside a small flat box with a red-cross on the lid. Tilting his head to the side, he leaned forward to get a closer look at this symbol. It resembled the more familiar ankh except it was shaped differently at the top and more exact. If he had been able to read English, he would have known that the blocky letters under it read: "The American Red Cross." Directly on the floor beside him, he noted the two reed mats lined up end to end, atop of which a strange long sleeved black garment had been deposited. Someone else was here then.

A faint noise distracted him from his perusal of his surroundings. Instinctively his hand searched and closed around the hilt of his dagger. Warily scanning around the dimly lit temple, at first he could not find the source of the disturbance. He was concerned when he noticed that both of the temple doors had been shoved in, letting in the arid desert air. It was early morning, from what he could see from the position of sun, as he cautiously rocked to his feet. He gave a faint start when he noticed a shadow of movement outside. His eyes narrowed and slowly he withdrew the blade. The pain in his head vanished as he began to stalk forward, replaced instead by the memories of last night. Hatred rose to a near mindless boiling point within him until he reached the threshold to the temple, lifting the blade for use.

He was left rather dumbstruck by the sight that greeted him. Leaning casually against one of the ornate columns, with his bare, skinny arms folded over a black sleeveless tunic, his legs covered with long dark blue trousers, was his pale faced savior. A warm breeze stirred the golden bangs framing his forehead, gently caressing his cheeks. He was staring off across the vast wasteland before them; his strange amethyst gaze alight with the glow of the rising sun. An involuntary shudder ran through Atem, as the resemblance to his own person was too frightening to ignore. Clearly they were of different races, yet the cut and color of the hair, the sharp chin, and much of his slender frame was all too identical to his own. Had his father dallied with a foreign woman and procured a brother he had not known about? If so, then why ever was he kept a secret from him? He could not imagine why his father would keep the existence of those of his own blood from his knowledge. His sandal scraped lightly against the stone floor, causing the other young man to turn his head in his direction.

He smiled! "Morning." The grin vanished when he noticed the distrust and wariness in which Atem was regarding him – and gave great attention to the dagger Atem still clutched in his hand. He began to approach, holding his hands out before him in a supplicating gesture. Atem frowned when he did not bow down in the proper manner of respect toward his person, though he decided to dismiss the err in etiquette for the moment. Pointing the dagger at the boy, he demanded to know his name.

The boy seemed puzzled. "I'm Yuugi. I told you last night. You don't remember?"

Atem clenched his teeth together, too irrationally sickened and heartbroken by the unintended implication that he would ever forget last night. "I remember!" He aggressively made a subtle cutting gesture with the dagger. "I will remember last night for all the days of my life! Dare you to speak to me so lightly of it!"

Yuugi kept his hands out, remaining amazingly calm. "I wasn't. I'm sorry. Please… put the dagger away."

"Why should I?" Atem snapped back, tears stinging his eyes. "For all that I know, you are one of those who slaughtered-" his voice choked, catching, "-who betrayed me, and left me to die! Think you I would trust a stranger so quickly?"

"No." Yuugi appeared pained his own expression reminiscent of all that was tearing up Atem inside. His speech was bad, but his meaning was clear. "But you trusted me last night when you had no reason to, and I did not betray you then. I will not betray you now."

Atem paused, giving this some thought, replaying the events of a few hours ago in his mind. This Yuugi had gone through extraordinary lengths to ensure his safety, who had in turn trusted Atem by leaving him his weapon, and allowing him to man the horse. He had also taken great pains in tending to his injuries. Try as he did, he could not find in any one action of the boy's that indicated that killing Atem was on his agenda, whatever that agenda was. But one thing stood out from that…

"Why did you not save anyone else?" he came back fiercely, moving around in a semi-circle when Yuugi thought to approach him again, keeping several arm lengths between them.

Yuugi sighed, his small shoulders falling. It was as if this reminder was also something he had thought of – and regretted. "Everyone else was dead. I was… sent here on my own. I had no information other than…" He lifted his gaze and met Atem's, making his heart skip a few beats. "…To find and save you."

Atem lowered the dagger minutely. "You had foreknowledge of this calamity?" He could not keep the disbelief out of his voice, and then with renewed loathing, added in a enraged shout, "Why then did you not warn us?"

Yuugi clenched his fists and pressed both to the sides of his head, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. "I couldn't!" he cried, anguished. "I… I had no way of…of arriving in time!" Opening them again, he stepped forward, ignoring the dagger held between them as a ward. "Atem, please, you have to…!"

That motion was the last straw. Atem reasserted the distance, making sure Yuugi understood that the weapon was still a threat. "Do not address me so familiarly! I have not seen you!"

Yuugi halted, the words finally seeming to strike a chord in the ignorant youth. Immediately his eyes widened in sudden understanding, and he dropped to the ground, pressing his forehead hard against the baked stone between his hands. "Forgive me," he began rapidly, sounding tremulous, missing the shocked expression on Atem's face as he spoke. "I am not from Egypt. I do not know all of your customs. I did not mean any offense."

Suddenly feeling as if he had been drained dry of his strength, Atem lowered the dagger with an inaudible sigh. Eventually it found its way back into its sheath. "I see you," he spoke softly and at length: "Please, raise your head."

Hesitating, Yuugi turned his head and peered up. He seemed unsure, until he saw the peaceful expression on Atem's face, the near smile that almost touched his lips. Yuugi raised his head and smiled back, such a silly, open grin Atem loved it the second he saw it. It was odd that someone should have this affect on him, because he couldn't remember wanting to make someone he had only just met smile for him.

"Can I… Can I stand?"

"Yes, you may stand."

Exhaling audibly, Yuugi climbed to his feet, absently brushing off the sand sticking to his pants. Atem watched this action with some amusement. "Why do you wear such heavy clothes? Are you not affected by the heat?"

Yuugi colored pink across his nose and cheeks, if possible increasing his appeal. "Where I come from, it's colder. I'll… probably change out of them later." He held out his hands again, palms out seeming able to read Atem's body language. He spoke slowly so Atem could understand him. "If it will ease your mind, you can check me for weapons. I have a knife in my left back pocket but that is all I have. You may have it if you like."

This course of action seemed the wisest. Though his inclination was to like Yuugi and trust him, the latter had been too badly violated for him to relent in his caution for now. He drew close to the pale young man, noting once again the startling contrasts of their skin color. Never taking his eyes off his face, Atem poked and prodded the folds and pockets of the trousers. He told Yuugi to remove his foot- wear as he had kicked off his own sandals moments ago. He looked sort of funny, with his arms sticking out at the sides like that. "Can I keep my socks on?" He stuck out one of his cloth covered feet. "The floor is really hot and I don't have calluses on my feet like you do."

Atem nodded. Fishing into the pockets in the back did indeed procure of some sort of object, but why Yuugi called it a 'knife' when it resembled nothing of the sort eluded him. It was small, oblong, red, hard, shiny, smooth and well rounded. Whoever had made it must have been a masterful craftsman. Offering it out to his new acquaintance in his upturned palm, he frowned. "This is your 'knife'?"

"Yes. The blade folds into the handle."

"Folds?" Atem examined it critically. "How do you mean?"

"You press that small, round, silver thing on the side." Yuugi pointed. "Keep your fingers away from the top; the blade comes out very fast."

Atem did as he was instructed. The blade appeared with a tiny click noise that startled him, causing him to drop the knife. Staring down at the object by his feet, he was amazed – and impressed. Looking up, he stared at Yuugi. "How did you come into possession of such a weapon?"

Yuugi moved to retrieve it, stepping back when Atem held up his hand, and picked it up instead. "A close friend of mine gave it to me. I, uh," he seemed embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly; "I tend to attract a lot of trouble where I am from."

That is one thing we have in common, Atem thought with reluctant mirth as he pushed the blade back into the handle from the blunt side per the boy's instruction until another click denoted that it had locked into place again. "And where are you from?"

Yuugi shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you that. It is no where you know of."

This was the wrong thing to say. Atem's eyes narrowed. "If I am to trust you, Yuugi, then you cannot keep anything from me."

Yuugi lowered his gaze. "Only this. I am sorry but the less you know, the safer you will be." Something else was added to that thought, something Atem could not hear. The troubled look that came after that utterance convinced Atem it was a subject best left alone for the present. For a brief moment, the pharaoh thought about forcing the truth from him. The pleading look he was shot with dispelled the urge and he, once again, quite reluctantly, pushed the issue to the side. "I suppose I gain nothing in asking you about who sent you."

Yuugi nodded regretfully. "I'm sorry."

Gazing out to the horizon in a contemplating fashion, he fished amongst his options. "Have you anything else to accomplish?"

The foreign child shrugged helplessly. "I was not told much. I… I do not know if I'll be able to return home. Until I do," he exhaled, "I'm stuck here."

Astonished, Atem was able to find a smile, and he chuckled softly as he went to sit down on the temple steps. "You make it sound as if being with me is a chore. I do admit," he kept going even as Yuugi opened his mouth to protest, "I am rather difficult to get along with, so I should not blame you." The other boy blushed. Taking note of Yuugi's stiff stature, he gestured with his head. "You may sit with me."

Surprise lighting his face, Yuugi complied, plopping gracelessly beside the pharaoh, though he made sure to keep a whole body length between them. Atem eyed something around the other's throat, daring to reach out to poke it. Yuugi flinched but didn't pull away. "What is that leather band?"

"It's a collar." He shrugged. "It's just an accessory. It… doesn't mean anything," he added. He turned that interesting shade of red again, looking away. "I'm not anyone important, if that's what you're trying to ask."

Atem tilted his head to the side, a patient smile beginning on his lips. "You are wrong there, Yuugi. You have saved my life. Such a person who would do this for someone he does not know is a rare person indeed."

His savior had the oddest reaction to that statement, kind of smiling mysteriously and slyly shrugging. "You're Pharaoh." He spoke to his feet, almost in a mumble. "Besides I…" He couldn't seem to bring the next words out of his mouth. Instead he pressed his lips together tightly and shook his head. "Even if I didn't know you, and I was put there, I…I would have done it."

"Put there?"

Yuugi glanced up. "Pardon?"

"You spoke of being 'put there.'" Atem zeroed in when the boy's face changed to the caught-in-the-act look. "Does this mean you were brought to Egypt in some fashion not of your own making?"

Aware of his starting to be boxed in, Yuugi dipped his chin in assent, and proceeded to evade him. "Y-Yes. I already told you I was sent here."

Damn. Atem stuck his tongue in his cheek, cursing. He had been so certain he had almost retrieved his answers that time. Wait… there was something else the boy had said. "How is it," he began, lightly tapping his fingertips upon his knee, "that you know who I am yet I know nothing of you? I have never seen your face before in my court."

"It's because you haven't. You and I have never met before this day."

_He's lying. I can see it in his face he's lying. Yet how is that possible when I have no memory of meeting him? _It didn't make sense. Then again, a lot of things on this crazy day weren't making any kind of sense. Frustrated at this Yuugi who was so familiar and yet so strange to him, Atem swept to his feet, resolute in forging ahead with the only course of action he knew to be right to take, the only thing he understood for certain. "I must return to the palace. I will not hide from my new enemy nor shall I allow this treason to prosper." To Yuugi, he put, using his most commanding tones, "If you continue to prove a true and honest servant, I would ask that you accompany me." And, just to slightly tease, he slid a sideways glance at the other boy, and added, "Of course, you may decline if there are other pharaohs in need of rescue."

Shaking his head firmly, Yuugi stood. There was a type of fire and heat in him now that had not been present before (though it certainly filled his cheeks quite nicely). "I think you would have to kill me to keep me from your side, m-my Pharaoh." He was not used to addressing anyone so formally and he stuttered.

Atem stared at him, open-mouthed, in complete disbelief of what he had heard. It was amazing, and it felt so right this feeling of being with him, Atem was completely blown away. Who was this strange boy? Why did he feel this energy pulse between them when they locked eyes and wills? It was clear Atem's existence was very crucial to this young man, or he would not have risked his life so. Whatever his importance to him was, Yuugi felt very strongly about it, and certain enough of his own trustworthiness to insist upon it, even when he had no right to ask for it.

_I will try to trust you Yuugi_, he said silently in his mind, watching the other youth get up and proceed to reenter the cool shade of the inner temple. _But know this; you will be the last soul in this life I shall ever trust again. _He touched the hilt of his dagger and gazed into the unspoiled blue of the sky above. He sent a silent plea to gods to give him the strength to face the coming days, for he was going to need all of it to see this nightmare through to its end.

* * *

Stepping once again into the cool depths of the temple, Yuugi was unable to prevent a heavy breath from escaping him. This was not going to be easy. Atem was not stupid – his probing questions had already told Yuugi as much. But what else could he say? History was already screwed up enough as it was, and to be perfectly honest, Yuugi wasn't interested in doing anymore damage than what had already been done. I'm not going to be able to get out of it for much longer, he thought staring down at the supplies he brought with him. I'm not exactly a champion liar when put under pressure. Yuugi knelt and reached down into his bag and started digging through it with another puff of a sigh. He froze instantly when he felt the too-familiar flat of a cold blade sit close to the jugular on his neck. It was not enough to slice skin, yet enough that it would if Yuugi attempted to break away.

Yuugi kept his gaze straight ahead, his face as expressionless as he could make it without giving into screaming hysterics. _It looks like I'm going to have work harder to put Atem's mind at ease._ "I'm looking for a change of clothes," he explained evenly. Atem used his foot to push the bag out from under Yuugi's hands. A poke in his ribs and a gesture of the knife to the funeral slab had Yuugi getting up and sitting there. Yuugi silently watched Atem sort through the bag, a crease appearing between his eyebrows as his eyes fell upon the objects within. He canted one eye up at Yuugi, dubious. Yuugi felt his familiar bright smile yank into place and simply shrugged with his hands.

Abandoning the bag, he went to sit beside Yuugi, keeping the body length of space between them. He rested the knife lightly on his thigh, his lips stretching into his infamous smirk. "Forgive me if I do not completely trust in you just yet, Yuugi. I very much want to, as you seem so eager for me to do so." His next grin was chilling, in that he did not mean it at all, and Yuugi was unable to help an involuntary shudder that prickled down his spine. Yuugi just nodded his eyes immediately resting on his own hands limp in his lap. He should have known better than to assume it would be this easy. He gasped and stiffened when he felt the flat side of the knife slide under his chin, forcing his head to tilt up until he was looking into the crimson depths of Atem's eyes mere inches away. "I regret to say, until I am certain of whom you truly swear yourself to, I will have to insist you keep your guard up around me."

Yuugi swallowed, replying because he could not move his head. "I will remember that."

Atem appeared to relax then, flashing his own echo of a falsely cheery smile, before moving the blade away again. "Very good, then." He pointed to the supplies on the ground. "I have not seen any of these objects before. You will show me each one and describe their use to me. If I deem any of your possessions a threat, you will destroy them in front of me."

Yuugi wanted to groan aloud. Atem was worse than airport security! Again, he couldn't blame him. Didn't Cleopatra have to watch her back even around her own sisters? Was it really so shocking that Atem was so well-versed in court intrigues? No wonder I didn't do so well on that last mid-term…

"And," Atem added with a lazy smirk that would have been downright sexy hadn't his eyes flashed a warning, "should you attempt to escape, I should warn you, I can throw this knife just as easily as I wield it."

His head hung, and Yuugi's shoulders sagged. _Correction_, he thought morosely, _he's an airport security ninja._ He made no secret of his displeasure, cutting Atem a sidelong look that was everything short of peevish. Unable to hide his irritation as he knelt beside his bag, he took out each object and set them down in neat rows. "Can I ask you a question?"

Atem grinned, seeming to feel more at ease now that he was in control of the situation. "Of course."

"Are you always this paranoid?"

The pharaoh kept the grin in place. "Just around mysteriously dressed fellows who resemble me."

Yuugi rolled his eyes heavenward and continued to unpack his belongings.

"Why do we look so much alike, might I ask?" Atem twirled the knife so it caught the light. "I find it difficult to believe that our similar hair styles are mere coincidence."

Yuugi's bad mood was getting worse. "Maybe we have the same hairdresser."

Atem's eyes narrowed. "I will not tolerate insolence, Yuugi. If you know, then speak plainly."

_I am speaking plainly you jerk!_ Yuugi wanted to say though his good manners and desire to stay alive prevented him from doing so. To be perfectly honest, Yuugi didn't really know why they had the same hair, though he was quite certain it might have something to do with the fact they were each other's other half. He found it mind-boggling that they could even exist in the same continuum like this. He had difficulty trying to decide what exactly they were to each other. He'd once entertained the notion he was Atem's reincarnation, but he tossed that by the wayside quickly because then why had Atem existed at all? Clearly they were separate people, separate spirits, yet they were each other's other half. Yuugi theorized it might have to do with their _ba _and _ka_. Or, he surmised they were just one soul split in half. One got stuck in a puzzle and one went on to reincarnate and apparently grew into a full soul, as did the other one. Like ghostly earthworms or something.

The notion that he and Atem were like earthworms, coupled with the actual image of earthworms, made Yuugi have to fight back a snort of laughter. A brief, tiny grin came and went on his face as he flipped open his mobile phone, and absently took note of the screen. NO SERVICE flashed black on a white background. "Figures," he muttered, before turning the device and holding it up for Atem to see. "This is what my people call a 'mobile telephone' although some countries refer to it as a 'cell phone.' It's used to communicate with another person regardless of the distance that is between the person and yourself. However, it cannot be used here, because…" Yuugi grappled with how to explain about telephone towers and satellites and gave up on the notion entirely. "Because there are other devices that aid in this communication and those devices do not exist here." He closed the phone with a neat snapping noise and tossed it back into the bag. "It's useless." Moving on, he picked up the flashlight. "You saw this last night when I used it to find you. It's call a flashlight." When Atem held his hand out for it, Yuugi gave it to him. "Push up the black thing on the side with your thumb to switch the light on."

Atem did and gasped when a beam of light appeared and reflected off the temple wall. He pushed back on the button and it turned off. He did it several more times before finally turning it off. He handed it back to Yuugi. "You use this to see in the dark?" he guessed.

Yuugi smiled. "Yes. But it has a limited power source so we should not use it unless we need to."

Atem nodded. "Can this power source be replenished?"

"Yes. But only where I'm from."

Atem studied the other boy carefully. "I harbor a suspicion many of the devices you carried here cannot be used without the aid of another."

Damn, he was good. "It's true," he shrugged. "I don't know how long I was going to be here so I figured I'd take some of my own supplies with me until I found alternates." Moving on to the next object, he lifted it up. "These," he began, opening the small cardboard box and sliding them out, "are called playing cards. They can be used to play many types of card games. A whole bunch of them together like this is called a deck. Each card has its own 'power level' you might say, and use depending on the game that is played. This card is called the King," he held up each card in turn so Atem could see it, laying them face up so he could see them, "Queen, Jack, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, the Joker, and the Ace cards. Each card has symbols like the Heart, the Spade, and the Diamond. The colors are always red or black." Atem was leaning forward, studying the cards. "There's a lot more to these cards than what I've explained for now," Yuugi continued, unable to help smiling for real as Atem perused each card with great and growing interest. "I'll teach you a few games later, if you want."

Atem's eyes rose to meet his, a gentle radiance glowing in them. "You… would teach me?"

"Of course."

"You like games, Yuugi?"

"I love games."

"Me too."

I know. That's why we got along as well as we did. Yuugi found himself blushing again under Atem's soft gaze and quickly distracted himself by gathering the cards up.

"You do that quite often, Yuugi," Atem observed almost playfully. "Are you so easily embarrassed?"

_Okay, now I want to die. _Yuugi shook his head and barreled on in their macabre show and tell session, unable to answer. "Uh, these are granola bars. It's food. You, uh, you might not like them. This here," he pointed to the two cylinder containers, "is what we call spring water. It's just my peoples' fancy name for clean water. I figured since I knew I was going to wind up in a desert, I should bring some with me." The next objects were a belt, another pair of pants, and a couple more of the same type of black shirt he was wearing. He explained his toothbrush, his cologne, his toothpaste, his underwear (more blushing), and his paperback copies of The Tale of Genji and the last Harry Potter book. The first he regretted bringing, because it belonged to his school (they were never getting it back now), and the second was lent to him by Anzu in her attempt to force feed wizards and magic wands down his throat. Yuugi didn't explain the books' plots, only explaining that they were texts for entertainment read and enjoyed by his people.

Atem seemed interested, though not so much in the books, as Yuugi's people. "I should like to hear the stories of your land, Yuugi, if we should ever come to a moment where the telling is appropriate."

Yuugi felt another smile tug at his mouth. It dawned on him then in the back of his mind that Atem was requesting this as an underhanded, backdoor tactic to get Yuugi to tell him where he was from. He held Atem's gaze long enough to send a hidden warning before placing the last of his belongings into the backpack. Because of this, he missed the contemplating look on Atem's face, the slight interested tilt of the head, and the brief ghost of a smile.

"There is one more thing you need to explain to me." Atem spoke again, causing Yuugi to glance up. He pressed a digit to one of the band-aides on his arms, and lightly brushed against the gauze covering his head. "I have already deduced these are bandages, though they are made of materials I have not seen before. What I would like to know," he pointed to the first aid kit, "is what is inside of that."

Yuugi sighed, moving to peel open the lid of the box, though he did a very good job of keeping it from reaching Atem's ears. This was getting tedious to the extreme, even if he completely understood why it had to be done. No one ever said the road to winning someone's trust was easy, he inwardly grumbled. He missed their mind link… because if they still had that, then Atem would know that Yuugi was someone he could trust with his life. It pained Yuugi to have to start over from scratch like this. Before it had always been the other way around. Existing as nothing more than a spirit who could only borrow Yuugi's body, it was Atem, and not Yuugi, who had had to labor and toil at keeping Yuugi's trust. It had all been completely unnecessary, of course. In Yuugi's eyes, regardless of the type of action that Atem employed to protect his person and his friends, they were all done with the best intentions in mind.

Even when Atem had so grotesquely betrayed Yuugi during Doma, his desperate desire to repent and remorse for his actions in lieu of regaining Yuugi's soul was enough to earn him his forgiveness. Heck, he had forgiven him the second that duel had concluded!

Of course, on this track of time, none of this had happened yet. This Atem was a completely different person. This Atem had no way of knowing what his future held in store for him. The only things on his mind right now were the people who had died last night, worrying about the new enemy in Egypt's midst, and the real intentions of his mysterious savior.

Atem must have been studying Yuugi for several minutes, and sensed the storm going on within him, because his tone was softer, less edgy. "I take no joy in placing you in a position of suspicion. I can see you are conflicted by your secrets. Perhaps in due time you will entrust them to me, perhaps not, but I would ask for your patience until such time arrives. You can understand this, yes?"

Yuugi nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He set about to explaining the contents of the box, as he did, he noticed Atem looked much healthier than he did before, save for the constant tension in his features. Yuugi picked up a bottle of aspirin and held it out in his palm. "This is medicine for pain. If you take it with water, for the next day or so, the pain should lessen considerably."

Atem immediately read into that, realizing Yuugi had noticed his discomfort. "How do I know that is not poison?"

Yuugi unscrewed the top of the bottle, removed the cotton ball inside, and dumped a couple into his hand. Then he put them in his mouth, grabbed a water bottle and swallowed them. "I was sent here to protect you," he intoned, dumping a couple more of the pills into his hand and holding them out to the pharaoh. "I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize my life or yours."

Carefully Atem reached out and laid his hand over the proffered medicine, the gesture close to that of a handshake, but not really. Yuugi fought back a shiver at the feel of Atem's rough, leathery fingers. It inevitably brought back memories of the previous night on horseback and being pressed so closely against him. He had very, very little trouble picturing the other man naked, since he wasn't wearing too much to begin with. A mental sigh denoted his disappointment when the brief contact ended as Atem scooped up the aspirin and took his hand away. He bit his lower lip when he refused the other water bottle to drink out of Yuugi's instead, since he knew that one to be safe for certain.

Moving to stand, he shoved the first aide kit in to his backpack and slipped it over his shoulders. "The horse was still tied to the cactus last I checked," he began. "If we want to reach the palace by the end of today, we should leave now."

Atem sucked the last of the water out of the bottle with evident pleasure, gazing at the container with bliss. Yuugi almost giggled at the expression on his face. "You must have stolen this water from the gods, Yuugi."

If the gods use reverse-osmosis technology, then yeah, we probably did. He doubted the joke would have registered with Atem so he didn't bother sharing it. He stuffed the empty bottle back into his sack, and gestured with his head. "Do you lead the way to the horse or do I?"

Atem gave him a you-oughta-know grin. "The pharaoh does not take point, Yuugi."

It figured.

* * *

*What is your name?


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Neither Yuugi nor the pharaoh deemed to say much else to one another during the short journey back to the palace. To be sure, the desert flora and fauna along the way were amazing to behold. Yuugi contemplated the transient beauty of nature with the detached objectivity of someone gazing at the same thing on a television screen. With all that was going on right now, and unknowing of what still lie ahead before them, he couldn't properly appreciate the ancient world he had found himself inexplicably thrust into. He wished he could let that morning horse ride tucked behind the pharaoh reach him the way he dearly wanted it to.

_I once wanted something like this,_ Yuugi thought with a rueful smile, gazing at the sparkle of the sun reflecting off of the water of the Nile. _Just Atem and me, with no one else around, enjoying the simple pleasure of a mundane activity without worrying about card games, insane CEOs, or soul-stealers. _Of course, Yuugi amended with a barely audible sigh, that never could have happened, not with what all that they had had to deal with in the in between. _It could have,_ he countered, _it could have we just didn't know what we had until… until…_

The Nile really was beautiful. He didn't remember what it had looked like from his time, since he'd been hiding out in his cabin on the journey to the tomb. Here, 3000 years in the past, it was a wide, alluring expanse of waterway that stretched on and on ceaselessly, and he couldn't help becoming entranced by the sight. Smiling, Yuugi absently laid his cheek against the pharaoh's back, not really paying attention to what he was doing until he _realized_ what he was doing – and that somewhere along the way, the horse had been pulled to a stop completely. Blushing hotly, he sat up and quickly glanced at Atem, praying he hadn't been caught in the act.

Atem was staring across the Nile too, seemingly lost in his own reverie. The light reflecting off the water gave his eyes a kind of crystalline effect, dyeing them a bright, fiery red hue in the glow of the sun. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Yuugi watching him, and smiled. It was a strange smile, a gentle mixture of sadness and nostalgia. His gaze kind of wandered all over Yuugi's face, lowering a few times, before they met Yuugi's eyes again, with a slightly wider, broader smile. Then he simply looked forward, squeezed the horse with his knees, and gave a shake of the reins to spur the animal into a gallop. Yuugi swallowed a yelp, and threw his arms around the pharaoh's waist, startled by the abrupt return to movement. He was heartily grateful no one could see the color of his face now because he was fairly certain it would have burst into flame.

_Okay_, he thought, squeezing his eyes shut against the wind blowing in his eyes, _maybe he really wasn't just acting all weird from being hit in the head last night. Maybe he really _does_ find me attractive_. And what did he know what to do with that information? Not a damn thing. It wasn't like he was shocked –Atem sure didn't seem interested in women when Yuugi knew him as a spirit – but he had supposed it was _because_ he was just a spirit that he had never bothered with earthly pursuits. He was, after all, beyond them.

Unfortunately _he_ didn't have the luxury of earthly pursuits either. Like Atem before him, (or after, time travel was so screwy!) Yuugi knew he couldn't indulge in anything on this track of time. He may not be dead, but he needed to place Atem's livelihood paramount to everything else until he knew what he was dealing with. If he allowed himself get distracted by living gods with fantastic smiles… Yuugi shook his head to dislodge the runaway thought. _Yeah, you can just stop right there_.

Atem drew the horse to a halt just outside of the village, toying with the reins as he scanned the terrain below them, his narrow eyes catching in every detail like a hawk's. Yuugi swore he could see the man's thought processes behind his eyes. Finally, after several silent perusals of the landscape, Atem spoke. His voice was clipped and curt, his tones of that of a commander of an army. "Buildings and store-fronts appear to be intact. I see no evidence of pillaging, or of any recent fires." Nodding in the direction of the river, he continued, "Activity at the water's edge seems undisturbed." He squinted into the distance at the palace lording over the village and appeared ill at ease. "Did you close the gate last night when we departed?"

It took a second for Yuugi to comprehend. "No."

Atem pressed his lips together, his face drawn and dark again. "Then someone else inhabits the palace. There are archers patrolling the garrisons." He looked down and through his hands. "I cannot help to hope…" he trailed off aloud, as if to himself. Turning to face Yuugi again his expression was hard, brittle, and unyielding. Yuugi shrank back. He wasn't used to being stared at like that by someone who only ever had looked at him with kindly regard. His tongue seemed to stick to the roof of his mouth like peanut butter. Then as suddenly as it had appeared, the expression on the pharaoh's face slid to one of guilt and fear, and Atem swiftly turned away again. _He's scared_. Letting his hand move to squeeze Atem's upper arm, he offered silent encouragement. Atem returned the touch absently, as if he wasn't even paying attention to what he was doing, before quietly spurring the horse once again. Yuugi bit his lips together and braced himself for whatever new nightmare might be lying ahead of them.

To his surprise, Atem did not make for the village. Instead he guided the animal around the perimeter of the small valley, taking especial care to avoid any tall dunes, hills, or high-rises. Finally, unable to understand the pharaoh's strange behavior, Yuugi tugged on the back of the other man's kilt. "What are we doing?"

Atem glanced at him briefly, and spoke at length. "I need to know who is occupying my palace before we make our approach. I should not like to find us in a midst of arrows and become butchered before the eyes of my subjects."

_No. I should not like that either_.

Atem seemed satisfied that the hill they had ridden behind was enough to keep them out of sight. He eased the horse to a stop, before bringing his leg over the animal's back to dismount. By rights Yuugi should have climbed down first, but his efforts to attempt to preserve propriety were waved off. "Until we are certain of my control over Kemet," he explained, helping the shorter boy to the ground, "we need not trouble ourselves with proper decorum."

Yuugi gazed up and down the pharaoh's person. He was still decked out quite extravagantly in glittering gold arm and leg bands, despite the fact many of the other signature aspects of his pharaonic aspect were missing, like his crown, his collar, both his earrings, his purple cape, and the rings on his fingers. Save for the God Pyramid lying against his mostly bare chest, Atem could have passed for any average member of the royal court. _This must be what_ _passes for_ _Casual Fridays in ancient Egypt_. Yuugi had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from chuckling at his wholly inappropriate humor.

Atem noticed Yuugi's scrutiny and gave part of a half-hearted shrug. "I was undressing for the evening when I was forced from my chambers by the ambush." It made sense. "Despite my ungodly appearance, do not forget yourself, Yuugi."

He didn't plan to. "So what are we doing now?"

Atem found a rock to sit on and rested his perfectly pointed chin on his knuckles. "For the present, I fear we must await the fall of darkness to implement a stealthy approach. Until then, we best concern ourselves with keeping out of sight, and avoiding Re's might."

Re's might. He was talking about the sun. A trickle of sweat ran between Yuugi's shoulder blades as if in reminder; his black shirt clung to his damp skin, the cool, icky feel of it making him want to rip the damn thing off. Too bad he hadn't thought to bring any sun block because his pale skin really could have used some right about now. The light pink on his arms told him he was well on his way to a painful sunburn if he didn't find shade soon. Absently he rubbed at his arm, while looking around. Spying a small cave tucked into the side of a large rock formation he looked back at Atem, who was again lost in thought. "Let's sit in there for a while and rest. We've been out in the sun for hours and I'm starting to feel a little dizzy." Understatement of the century, he felt like he was about to pass out from heat exhaustion.

Securing their mount just inside the small cavern, Yuugi all but dropped on the cooler ground, in spread eagle fashion, throwing an arm over his eyes in sheer relief. He decided he would never complain about the hot Domino summers again. He missed the amusement Atem threw him as he more gracefully settled himself against the edifice of their hideout. He noted the sweat stains on Yuugi's clothes and smirked. "Perhaps you should take this opportunity to change," he suggested lightly.

Perhaps he should. Too hot to care about whether or not he was putting on a show or just being a prude, Yuugi pulled his arms into his shirt and whipped it off. Next he shucked his jeans, which was not an easy task, because of how damp they were from the rivers of sweat running down his legs. Hunting through his belongings, he dug out a pair of shorts and a plain white Kaiba Corp. tee shirt that he had stowed away without thinking as an emergency change of clothes. As he pulled the shirt down over his ears, he automatically grasped the chain of the necklace he was wearing so it nestled on top of his shirt. Realizing what it was he was wearing, and how it might be misunderstood if it was seen, Yuugi wrapped his fingers around it and hastily tucked it back under his shirt. He looked at Atem, fearing that he might have noticed the hasty action.

He hadn't. Instead he had lain down on his side, arm tucked under his head, with his eyes closed. The small T of tension was back between his eyes, indicating the pain in his head had returned. Yuugi sighed quietly in relief, and proceeded to sit near him, bottle of water in hand, with his back lying against the cool stone. It felt good against his heated skin and he smiled with the pleasure of the moment.

Yuugi offered the water to the pharaoh after taking a drink.

"You know," he began nonchalantly, teasingly, after taking the bottle back, "for someone who talks a lot about trust issues, you're being awfully trusting right now."

Atem didn't bother opening his eyes or moving. "Do not presume to think I have in any way relaxed." One eye opened to regard Yuugi devilishly. "I watched as you undressed, and redressed, Yuugi. You could not hope to conceal any weapon in that odd garb of yours."

Yuugi flushed. "And you still have my knife." _Voyeur_, he added in a mental grumble, _I bet you peeked in on me while I took showers too._

Oblivious to Yuugi's inner backlash, Atem went on. "I do indeed. Unless you wield magic to do your bidding, I would like to see what else you might still hold up your sleeve," he pinched Yuugi's arm, "bare as your arm is."

Yuugi schooled back a wince. _I keep forgetting he can be an arrogant jerk when he wants to be. It would be just my luck_. "Ouch."

Atem smirked and did it again… harder. Yuugi yelped and scooted away in a scramble. "What part of 'ouch' didn't you understand?" he demanded, disliking the way his voice pitched as he said it.

Appearing to ignore him, the pharaoh lounged like a lazy cat on his back, stretching his arms above his head. A ghost of discomfort flittered across his handsome features and, for the first time, Yuugi realized how… unwell Atem looked. He was covering up from his behavior, but the strain of feigning healthiness was starting to show itself, chipped away by the midday heat. There was one thing he did know for certain and was that he knew that coming back here had been a mistake from the beginning. By rights, Atem shouldn't even have been horse back riding this morning, let alone walking about, but it wasn't like Yuugi could have stopped the man even if he'd tried. _No way, he's too stubborn for that. _Little good would it do now to worry since it was long past time to have changed anything; it wasn't like he was a doctor. Hopefully if they were able to find some of the physicians from this era, they might be able to do more for Atem. Paltry field dressings and sticky band aids did not for medical experience make.

Quietly taking out a small wash cloth from the back pack, Yuugi dampened it with some water from the canteen before folding it in half. Then he touched Atem on the shoulder. "Hey," he murmured when the other's eyes opened. "Put this on your forehead."

To his slight surprise, Atem not only accepted the gesture, he actually let Yuugi lay the cool compress over his brow. He absently brushed some of the locks of hair away from the pharaoh's face, not really thinking about what he was doing, until Atem's fingers came up and brushed back against his hand. Yuugi tried not to snatch away his hand or yelp when the other man's fingers closed around his wrist. Their gazes collided, and this time Yuugi _knew_ Atem felt the nearly electrical connection between them this time. Very gently, Yuugi tugged his hand back, nipping the corner of his bottom lip, as he casually leaned back against the rock face once more. He deliberately ignored the curious yet amused expression he received in return for his withdrawal.

The afternoon burned on.

* * *

Toward the beginning of the evening, Atem watched Yuugi as he traced grid patterns in the sand with his index finger; he would draw Xs and Os in varying orders before sweeping his hand across the strange pictograph and starting over again. Their eyes met briefly before, predictably, the paler boy immediately averted his gaze and busied himself with digging through his carry pack of odds and ends.

There was no doubt about it, the pharaoh thought bemusedly. This Yuugi was an interesting young man. He couldn't decide whether he found the other's responses to him curious or obliquely offensive. Definitely not the latter, he decided, since he held no hostile feelings toward his rescuer. He could easily admit with no sort of reluctance that he found the boy physically attractive. A few years ago, Atem had discovered an odd preference and appreciation for both men and women in that manner, although he found himself drawn more to a person's personality rather than just their physical persuasion. He did admit, with some grudging frustration, he _had_ only ever been permitted to bed women because producing an heir was of utmost importance, one he readily agreed with most of the time. It was just as well, he closed his eyes against the faint throbbing between his eyes. He found it difficult even wanting to _touch_ most of the men he found himself in the company of anyway.

Still… he would have liked the opportunity to follow his own desires for once.

He ran his tongue along his lower lip and cracked open one eye in the direction of the other. Yuugi was lying on his side toward Atem, one arm crooked under his head for a pillow, as he napped. A phantom itch made him brush absently at his nose, rubbing it against his arm. Atem smiled softly, and felt a bit of a surge below his naval as his gaze traced the faint lines of the young man's torso through his thin white tunic. Closing the eye again, he turned his head and pushed it, and the surge, to the back of his mind. Best that he smothered such impulses for now, for they were not only inappropriate, they weren't conducive to their situation.

Focusing inward, Atem began the process of arranging and rearranging his thoughts. Mentally rewinding back to the events that had occurred over the past twenty-four hours, he forcibly placed himself in a position of objectivity. Only then, he believed, might he be able to find the answers he needed in order to understand what had happened. It was something he had trained his mind to do in times of stress, when it was not always possible to logically preserve the balance of _ma'at_. The God Pyramid afforded him the unique ability to judge the accused fairly and take an otherwise impartial stand. But it could not always proof against the emotional riptides of the accusers and defendants. Since the God Pyramid was of no help in that matter, Atem's own mind and will had to compensate. This is what he did now.

The beginning of the day yesterday had gone like any other, he remembered that much, and could not even now recall anything unusual happening over the course of Amun Re clear through to midday. Wait… A light frown wrinkled Atem's brow, as he hovered around the memory. There had been something. There was an odd visitor who had come to meet with him toward the beginning of the evening, when Re was lingering about in the last few minutes of his light, before he would disappear below the horizon. An image of a man in a cloak that hid his features appeared in Atem's mind's eye in a flash so completely intense, his eyes opened wide to the stars above. Announcing his arrival into the court room, he had knelt in a peculiar manner: one knee to the ground, head bowed forward, in a seeming refusal to completely prostrate his entire body upon the earth. Atem recalled Seth sharply cutting the stranger a scathing verbal rebuke, demanding that he show the sovereign of Kemet due proper respect. The man had politely acquiesced, nodding once, as if he had expected to be corrected. The movement of his head had not discarded the hood that hid most of his face, but it was enough for him to see that the person had not been Egyptian. His eyes were an oddest shade of color, of such the likes as he had not seen on any man besides those of the pale skinned race. The eyes themselves were striking unlike in the manner of Yuugi's eyes, yet unforgettable nonetheless, though for the life of him he couldn't remember what the exact shade had been.

The exchange had not been particularly fascinating or suspicious – and now that Atem thought about it, perhaps that was precisely what the man had intended. The stranger said he was merely a visiting merchant who only wished to pay his respects to Kemet and the pharaoh, something that was not unusual or unheard of. After a few more, rather boring, exchanges of pleasantries, the man had left. Atem hadn't even spoken, letting Seth speak his words for him, per the manner of his position of vizier. All he had done was nod in response to whether or not the man could remain in Kemet.

_I should have detained him, had him questioned more closely. But how could I have known? And was the man even guilty? He could have nothing to do with what happened._

His thoughts returned to Seth. He had left soon after to inspect an incoming caravan north of Kush. As with the inconveniences of such things, there had been no one of discernible authority in the region to preside over the long train of animals, carts, and the many men, women and children that traveled with them. The merchandise that was incoming contained a wealth of horses, cattle, goats, sheep, grains, medicinal herbs and spices. It was too precious a load to be left in the care of the Medjay that were stationed there, whose forces had been greatly depleted in a costly battle many weeks before. The rest of Atem's priests had departed for the evening to homes outside of the immediate village, far enough away that word of the massacre, or knowledge of its occurrence, would go unnoticed until, well, today.

The only people present in the palace last night had been a contingent of guards outside of the walls, within the palace, and outside of his chambers. There had also been the various servants going about their tasks; Atem could not recall a single man or woman who had been out of place, or hadn't been doing what they should have been doing. It was a vast list of suspects, a list that had been conveniently cut down for him. There _could_ have been a betrayer yet that same betrayer could have been slain that very night – _if_ it was one his own servants, guards, concubines or even, perish the thought, _mentors_. Atem would not entertain the thought of any of his priests having had a hand in his protracted demise. The thought right now was… just too painful to consider. He would circle back to the thought if it would later hold merit, but right now he did not want to conceive of it.

Atem grunted, kicking out a foot in frustration. He was no closer to an answer now than he was at the beginning of his ruminations. Clearly _he_ had been the target _that_ he knew without a doubt. Yet what he couldn't fathom was the pretentious method that had been used in the attempt on his life. There were far more efficient and less messier ways to ensure a pharaoh's demise. Why kill everyone else? All could just as easily, if swayed to, serve another master. Atem knew he was well-loved by his people; however, he could understand how the duty to one's family and land could override loyalty to one's own sovereign if favoring the conqueror allowed them to keep all they held dear. It was a cold hard fact of life.

His teeth clamped on his bottom lip, and for a horrible moment, he felt the crushing hand of loneliness assail him. Even with his contingent of priests and the closeness he shared with Seth, Atem felt isolated from all of them much of the time. He father had once told him that it was a lonely business being at the head of things. Now more than ever he understood his words.

Atem swore a silent oath and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyelids, curbing the urge to groan aloud. He wasn't getting anywhere feeling sorry for himself. Better to quit while he was ahead.

His left side was feeling very warm all of a sudden. Atem opened his eyes and squinted through the darkness. Somehow during the course of his slumber, Yuugi had managed to worm over the short distance between their bodies, and was now pressed against his companion in an unconscious quest for heat. Atem considered moving and decided against it when, in placing his hand on the boy's arm to push him gently away, he felt the goose bumps on his bare arm.

_Should I wake him?_ If there was any hope for finding any answers about the state of affairs at the palace, they would have to act tonight. He had the beginnings of a plan in mind, yet the military commander in him told him it would be prudent to seek his self-described protector's thoughts on the matter. Yuugi struck him as a strategizing sort and he hoped to glean any possible ideas he might have before acting. Two heads were ultimately better than one.

_Until I know for certain what I am up against, I consider myself already at war. For all that I am aware of I may be one against an entire country. _Yuugi sighed in his sleep, murmuring. Atem smiled. Or perhaps he was wrong. _Perhaps I am two_.

"Yuugi," he whispered, shaking the boy's shoulder. "Yuugi, wake up."

Yuugi murmured again and shifted against the pharaoh. "_Mou… hitori no… boku_…"

Atem blinked at what sounded to him like nonsensical gibberish. "Yuugi!" He dealt his arm a firm yet gentle blow. "Wake up!"

Yuugi came to then, wincing at the faintly painful disturbance, before slowly opening his eyes and rolling to his back to rub at them thoroughly. "Is it night already?" he asked through a yawn, pushing, forcing his body to sit up so he wouldn't be tempted to slide back into sleep again. Finally looking up at Atem, he smiled tiredly, and when he spoke, his voice was still husky from sleep. "Hey. Are you feeling better?"

It took a moment for Atem to understand what he was saying, kind of gazing at the other dreamily, before his brain registered that Yuugi had asked him a question, and that he was expected to answer. "Yes. Resting here has done me a world of good." So it did in truth, as he felt more energetic and livelier than he had all day. "Now," he leaned in eagerly, prompting Yuugi by the motion to do the same, "I would have us conceive of a plan to reenter the village undetected." Using Yuugi's play time idea, he used a finger to draw the palace, the village, and each one's position in regards to the Nile for reference. "The easiest way is straight through," he drew a line through the village, "yet it is the route where the possibility of someone raising the alarm is most likely. Those who wander the streets around here at night rarely go unnoticed." He offered a half-hearted smirk, grudgingly admirable of what had once been one of his greatest advantages turned against him, and he said so. "Providential when you're the one living in the village, unlucky if you're the interloper trying to sneak in from the outside." He drew another line, this time around the village on the side most opposed to the river. "This route is much more difficult to take yet presents a near impossibility of being spotted from near or afar. But…" He frowned and let his fist drop limply.

Yuugi finished the thought. "If _you_ know about it, then your enemies know about it. Anyone not wanting to get caught sneaking around would take advantage of that as well. I take it it's where most outsiders try to sneak through?"

Atem nodded, appearing grim. "Unfortunately, yes." He rubbed his chin, frowning down at the sandy map. "I cannot foresee an alternative. Unless…" His face glazed over in thought. "We make our approach separately," he ended.

Yuugi's mouth dropped open and he squinted to see his former partner in the pale moonlight. "That is a bad idea. I don't know where to go since I don't know the terrain and you shouldn't be alone because if anyone catches you and recognizes you, everything either of us fights for just dies right then and there." He made a determined fist and held it up before Atem's surprised face. "We need to stick together."

Recovering from the boy's impassioned veto, Atem put his hand over the other's fist, causing him to lower it. "It was only a suggestion. I only offered it because I wanted to discover the dearth of your knowledge."

Yuugi opened and then closed his mouth. Clearly he did not know what to say to that. Instead he glanced over his shoulder. "If we do this, then we can't bring the horse. It would attract too much attention. And, uh," he tapped the gold ringlet on the pharaoh's upper bicep, "you're going to have to get rid of that stuff. If we have nothing valuable to steal, then we stand a better chance of being left alive by anyone who might try to rip us o… I mean rob us."

Atem cradled the Pyramid in one hand. "I suppose you mean this as well?"

Yuugi nodded reluctantly.

The pharaoh exhaled wearily. He really hadn't thought of that. "If they who occupy my palace are my allies, how am I to prove to them of my identity?" He rose to argue, fists at his sides, chin held high. "Not all that might dwell there have seen my face, especially close at hand. I might be as an imposter and stranger to them." His eyes narrowed and he gestured unconsciously toward himself. "This Item endows me with the ability to control the shadows at my beck and call. I am the only one who can bear or use it." He affixed Yuugi with a dark look. "I cannot abandon my birthright. I would rather risk the vagabonds' wrath. They are little threat to _me_ in comparison to what my Pyramid can do to _them_."

Yuugi stared at him for a long time, his pale face and shiny eyes a curious mixture of awe and shock. At last he held up both hands in supplication. "It-It was only a suggestion," he stammered.

Atem sank back down to sit again. "A rather _bad_ one," he grumbled, unable to help folding his arms imperiously, as if Yuugi had insulted him. _I suppose this is what it means to break even. _Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yuugi visibly wilt, and dropped the act. Now wasn't the time for standing on ceremony. Lowering his arms, he rested the palms of his hands on his knees crossed at the ankle. "When we reach the palace, there we shall have one of two options. If the enemy is in occupation, we will return to the temple post-haste and formulate a new plan of action there." Atem scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"And if it's your friends?"

The pharaoh exhaled. "Then we await the light of Re to make our presence known."

Yuugi frowned. "Shouldn't we try to get in while we're there? Unless you think they'd kill us?"

The boy was catching on. "I have found daylight lends surety to actions and creates less suspicion. Additionally most of the villagers will be awake by then."

Yuugi caught on, leaning forward eagerly, licking his dry lips. "And the guards will be less likely to be tempted to strike you down where everyone can see you. Your people are used to due process, after all, and to violate that would just make things worse than they already are."

The pharaoh raised a single eyebrow. "'Due process'?"

Yuugi flushed. "Um, ur, standing trial for their crimes against Ma'at. In my land, we would call that 'due process.'"

Atem raised an eyebrow. "That is a strange way to describe the ways of justice."

The pale boy just shrugged. "Justice is as justice does." He stood up and swiped the sand off his legs and rear. "Well, we better get going before we lose twilight."

He stood too and performed the same motions. "Best you stick close to my side. I used to spend nights hunting amongst these hills when I was a boy." He reached out and picked up his companion's hand, clasping his fingers tightly around his. "Do not let go of me if you can help it. Anubis does not forgive a misstep… nor do I."

Yuugi returned the strong grip and gave a sharp resolute nod. "I'll let go when I'm dead."

Atem nodded. That was the sort of loyalty he wanted to see. "Good."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As Atem led the way through the cool and arid desert darkness, Yuugi felt a fear and anxiety he hadn't remembered experiencing since his fight in the Shadow Realm with Pegasus during Duelist Kingdom. It already seemed both a lifetime ago and only yesterday since he had been to the castle on an island in the middle of the ocean. He remembered how his lungs had felt starved of air, how his heart had pounded in his ears, how his eyesight swam and blurred, how the images and the sounds around him merged irascibly into one. He also remembered how the spirit of the then unknown Atem pleaded for control, and the way he enfolded his powerful presence around Yuugi, crying out his name after his weak body had finally succumbed to the darkness. It was a terrible memory, one he often pushed back into the furthest reaches of his mind. Reliving it now unnerved him, causing him to have to stop a few times and sink to one knee to stave off a wave of dizziness. Sometimes Atem had to tug him to his feet a few times to keep him moving.

When the fires of the village were only a few yards away, Atem pulled him abruptly over to a large boulder, and had them duck down behind it. He scanned over the top and the sides of the rock before taking one last look around. Satisfied they were still safe, he turned to Yuugi and seized the youth by the shoulders. Yuugi was startled out of his self-possession and stared wide-eyed into the narrow crimson depths bearing into his own. He could feel the heat from Atem's breath ghosting on his cheeks and nose, they were so close to one another. Between the two of them, the scent of sweat and sand drenched the air, heightening Yuugi's awareness of the night that enshrouded him – and of Atem. Even under the thinnest slivers of moonlight, he could see the sheen of sweat glinting on the man's lightly muscled shoulders and torso.

"This is as close as we dare go for the present." Atem spoke almost breathlessly. He swallowed to moisten his throat so he could speak without coughing. "Now the trick to circling around the perimeter without being seen is going to be the hardest part. In that we can allow for no margin for error." Yuugi lowered his head guiltily, looking up again only when Atem slipped a single digit beneath his chin until their eyes met again. "You can do this."

Yuugi nodded and took Atem's hand back in his own. His other half's confidence and determination had always been infectious; though neither shared a body anymore, he felt they both still shared a mind. He saw Atem read and understand what was in his eyes and he knew the other knew he was back in rhythm. He smiled at him in such a wonderful way Yuugi wished he could have captured it on camera.

Yes. He could do this. He _had_ done this.

Hooking his fingers into the pharaoh's belt, Yuugi stole quietly across the desert darkness of Egypt, led by a man who in so many ways seemed destined to remain a permanent part of his life. _And perhaps I am_. He tightened his grip, barely able to see where he was going anymore, and clenched his teeth together behind his lips. Atem must have had eyes like a cat to be able to see his way so unswervingly through the ink surrounding them, because Yuugi stumbled over many of the things Atem avoided with ostensible ease.

Yuugi choked back a startled yelp when his foot struck a rock and he pitched forward on his hands and knees, skinning both. Atem stopped, knelt down, back facing Yuugi's front and without word or warning, slipped his arms around Yuugi's midsection, and hauled the shorter boy until he suddenly found himself astride Atem in piggyback fashion. Completely caught off guard, Yuugi threw his arms around Atem's neck tightly, terrified, until Atem made pause and reached up with one arm to tug on one of Yuugi's to remind him to loosen his grip.

"Sorry," Yuugi muttered close to Atem's ear, sincerely wanting to die from embarrassment. His klutziness was messing this up so badly. Worse, he was acutely aware Atem was probably thinking he could do all of this more easily without his so-called 'help.' The pharaoh of Kemet deserved a better servant than what he was getting in Yuugi, the boy with two left feet!

_If I ever get back to my own time_, Yuugi swore, _I'm going to start a carrot diet regiment. I don't care if I turn orange, at least I'll be able to see better in the dark and not make a complete moron of myself!_

Atem didn't respond to Yuugi's apology right away. He turned his head slightly so his mouth was closer to the head perched on his shoulder. "You will make it up to me," he whispered, his breath tickling the other's ear. Then he gave Yuugi's thighs a firm squeeze, adding a none-too-subtle stroke up his leg under the leg of his shorts, where he paused to deliberately stroke the flesh briefly with his fingertips before slipping back down again.

If Yuugi hadn't thought a person's insides could freeze, he believed it now. It literally felt as if his heart had stopped and his lungs had lost their ability to draw in air. There was no way he could confuse that suggestion – or the touch for that matter - for anything other than what it was. He also didn't have the foggiest idea of _what_ to do or think about it either. He took a deep breath, and forced his mind to focus on the dark path ahead of them. Time enough for him to worry about the implications. He had to stop letting Atem distract him. Okay, so the pharaoh was attracted to him: he wasn't making any big secret of that to Yuugi. The sooner he just admitted to that, the quicker he could just put it aside. There were too many more important things to concentrate on at the moment

It seemed ages that Atem wandered through the dark, the added burden of carrying his comrade seeming not to slow him down. Wonder not, from the chorded muscles in his deceptively slender arms, the pharaoh was a lot stronger than he appeared. Every inch of his warrior physique was taut and sinewy – it was hard to ignore that fact when most of it was pressed up against him. If Yuugi had thought riding on a horse with Atem was difficult, this was close to near impossible. The horse at least moved with a smooth gait. Atem jostled and bounced him around so much, Yuugi's teeth clicked together. A few times his chin smacked down on the man's shoulder, causing him to nip the tip of his tongue. He tasted blood, and swallowed back the metallic, salty taste with a grimace.

Suddenly Atem stopped again, and without warning, sank down to one knee, and released him. Opening eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed, Yuugi slid down and landed gracefully on his feet, his hands grasping the other man's waist briefly to regain his balance. Atem turned to face Yuugi, his eyes glittering in the torchlight. They were right beside the palace, just against the outer wall on the furthest side from the village. He held up one finger to his lips, and shook his head. Yuugi nodded to show he understood. They were too close to where ears could hear them to risk speaking. Then Atem took one of Yuugi's hands and put it back on his waist, making him wrap his fingers around the sash holding up his kilt. Yuugi gripped it and nodded again. Silently they ran alongside the palace wall, constantly keeping an eye on the garrison above them. If the guards spotted them now, it would be over for them instantly. They paused at the end, checked around the corner, and started running again.

Suddenly Atem stopped and ducked down swiftly behind a train of several large, long-horn cattle that appeared before them. This time, Yuugi was ready for it, and was kneeling behind him in a heartbeat. Since they had reached around to the front unseen, the torch lights on the closed gates cast dancing shadows upon the surrounding area leading out to the village, which made things much easier to see. Yuugi started to let go of Atem's sash when the pharaoh seized behind him without looking to grab Yuugi's arm. Only when he was convinced Yuugi wasn't going to let go again did he release the boy's wrist. The whole time, his falcon's eyes remained riveted, shifting between the bored looking bovines, searching for a way through. At last, he turned to Yuugi, who blinked at him owlishly, and put his mouth beside the other's ear.

"There are two men by the front gate that appear to be in deep discussion," he whispered. "I recognize from their cloaks and the garb they wear that they belong to the Medjay that reside in the village." He frowned in thought, pondering what that meant. "They must have discovered the carnage in the palace and taken command of it."

"That's a good thing… right?" Yuugi whispered back, eyes darting from the two figures Atem had mentioned, and then back at the man he would someday share a body with. "They'd know you."

A thin, grim smile turned up the corner of his mouth. "_T'e_."*

That wasn't a happy response. "What's wrong?"

Atem smirked, and it was not a cheerful sight. "The Medjay here do not care for the way I handle things. The Chief of Police and I have… butted heads over more than one investigation." At Yuugi's questioning stare, he went on. "He thinks I need to concern myself with things other than what goes on under his watch in the village." He dipped his head a bit in gesture of reluctant acquiesce Yuugi wasn't used to seeing in the normally proud, regal man. "He is right, of course. My venue concerns Kemet as a whole. I do not have the time, or cares, to concern myself with the peasants I rule over." However, Yuugi could tell from the tone of the pharaoh's voice this was not an opinion he shared. Atem glanced over his shoulder, squinting through the darkness at the men, and then nodded. "Yes, that is definitely him all right."

"Who?" Yuugi had to halfway rise up to get a good look at the two men, before Atem's staying grip pulled him back down behind the cattle again. "Him who?" he repeated quietly.

"Ramose. See him?" He pointed. "He is the more heavyset of the two men." At Yuugi's nod, he continued. "He is the Chief." His eyes wandered heavenward. Yuugi followed his line of sight to see what he was looking at. The men patrolling the garrisons were obviously archers from the bows they bore on their persons. They were dressed exactly as the two men chatting away at the gate with the symbols of their marks of office on their kilts.

When Yuugi looked back at Atem, he noticed that the pharaoh was staring off into the distance, a deeply troubled expression on his handsome face. "Atem?" he ventured cautiously. "What do you want to do? Can we expect help from the Medjay?"

Atem closed his eyes briefly, and let out a heavy sigh. "No," he said with great difficulty and reluctance. "I do not know if the Medjay are innocent of this atrocity, and I cannot risk my godhead until I am certain of whom they truly answer to. They may either prove to be the true betrayers or they have commandeered the palace to ensure that no one in the village knows what happened until they have discovered who the betrayers are. This sort of action is what I would have ordered Ramose to do." He made a fist and softly punched the dust around their feet, hissing softly, savagely through clenched teeth. "Yet I still cannot trust it! If Ramose is the betrayer, how do I know he has not done this to deter me, or anyone else, from his deceit?" Panic seemed to rob his eyes of sense until Yuugi laid both hands on the other's bronze shoulders. "How can I know?" His gaze finally connected with Yuugi's, anguished and full of conflict. "The Pyramid cannot tell me. How can I know?"

"What about your priests? Is there any way we could contact or send a message to any of them?" Yuugi forced himself to look and sound calm so that Atem kept his cool. The pharaoh could calculate coldly and clear-headedly with the best of him, but Yuugi knew keenly from past experience, Atem did not do well when he was cornered with no way out he could see. Many times he could remember having to touch or whisper encouragement into the spirit's ear during a card battle to snap him out of an overwhelming wave of panic and desperation that would have otherwise cost them the game.

It worked. Atem took a long, deep breath, closed his eyes, nodding. "Yes." At length, his eyes opened, resolute. "Siamun. I can trust Siamun."

Yuugi grinned. He remembered Siamun from his adventures in the world of Atem's memories. He had looked, acted, and sounded exactly like his own grandfather. His reincarnation, Sugoroku, wasn't much different. Yes, they could trust him. "Where does he live?"

Atem sighed. "It is a day's ride from here. He lives in his own abode downriver in another village. We would not reach him until the very next night."

Yuugi yanked on the pharaoh's sash unconsciously. "It's still better than nothing. I can stand hiding out in the dunes for another night."

The god king nodded. His expression was void of all fear and doubt now that he knew what his next move was going to be. "As can I. Do you think you can follow me back to our cave on your own without tripping?"

_Our _cave_?_ Yuugi stiffened, internally bristling, outwardly flushing in anger. "I can do a _lot_ of things," he ground out between clenched teeth.

Startled, Atem blinked, not realizing how his question had been received. "Yuugi, I did not mean it that way. I apologize if I was insulting."

"Well, you were." Yuugi didn't know why he was letting himself get so worked up when intellectually he knew Atem's question actually had been very valid. The piggyback ride had been one hell of a pride killer for the young gamer. He hated it for several reasons, a few of which he knew was going to stay in the realm of _never talking about it again ever. _Suddenly inspiration struck him, and Yuugi leaned close in to Atem, and whispered softly, almost seductively, "I'll let you make it up to me." The half-open mouth of astonishment and the round eyes he got for his efforts was immensely gratifying. "Come on," he gestured back in the direction they had sneaked in from. "Let's get out of here before somebody sees us."

* * *

The midnight prowl back to the cave proved a much less formidable obstacle than when they had made their previous approach. Yuugi did a better job navigating the rough and unforgiving terrain on the way back with fewer mishaps than before. Still, even though the route back was easier for the shorter boy, there were still several unfortunate moments along the way. Yuugi growled and waved Atem off whenever he attempted to give the other a hand up or offered to carry him again. He meant each offer with all the generosity he could afford and he knew Yuugi sensed this, but the other still refused him.

It was too bad, Atem decided with a faint ripple of disappointment. He so would have enjoyed the feeling of his thighs squeezing around him again… The way he had spoken to him before they had set out for the cave again only served to set his attraction for Yuugi aflame.

Atem propped his head up as he watched his companion take slow, soft breaths as he slept. They had debated the wisdom of sleeping out in the open again, and decided since they had not run into any thieves or scavengers between the palace, the village, and the cave, that for the present, it was safe.

His eyes traced the outline of the other's profile, enjoying the peaceful expression of his repose. He could watch that kind of beauty every night for eternity, he thought dreamily. Truly, he had never before met anyone – man or woman – who looked as Yuugi did. From the violet of his eyes, to the shape of his face, to the soft curves of his cheeks, the sharp point of his chin... Yet for all of his exquisiteness, in Yuugi he sensed a very strong, very male, very dominant personality that came alive in his eyes whenever their gazes locked together. He was no subordinate. There was a hidden ferocity that was tempered by this immense compassion that made any flutter of his seem nearly weak in comparison. Yuugi was an indomitable spirit. He knew this fact as surely as if he'd known the other his whole life.

_So very strange I should feel I know him so well_, Atem thought with a fascinated tilt of his head as he watched Yuugi sleep. _I should not feel so sure of these things, for how could I? We have only just met. _

"I know you," he murmured, almost forlornly. "Why do I know you so well, little one?" His throat closed when Yuugi's eyes opened then, and looked right at him. There was no way that he hadn't heard him since they were lying so close together. His heart began to pound furiously.

Yuugi smiled then, the tenderness of it almost painful to witness. He did nothing, said nothing. He just smiled, a magnificent smile that somehow rivaled every star in the heavens above including Re himself. Atem was drawn to it, and he moved closer to the other, carefully, deliberately, making certain that Yuugi could see his movements. Yuugi's smile wavered and gradually disappeared. The look in his face was now one of uncertainty, a light frown marring his brow. He shifted where he lay, sitting up part way, but without moving. Atem sensed the change in his body, the way it held itself poised for action. He knew without words that Yuugi was waiting for his body to decide on its own what it was going to allow Atem to do.

Leaning over him, Atem laid his hand upon the thin material covering Yuugi's upper torso, and simply let it remain where it was. The rhythm of his breathing changed, and he could hear the other taking faster, shorter breaths. It was barely discernable from his normal breathing, yet he knew from the increased flutter under his palm that Yuugi's heart was racing. Whether it was from fear or anticipation, Atem couldn't tell. He hoped it was the latter. Making a mistake about the signals he had thought were coming from Yuugi was not in either of their best interests. This was a huge risk he was taking in making this move. If Yuugi reacted badly, he knew he would lose that strangely intense, yet sincere trust the other had in him. He knew this was not the time, or gods, the _place_, to be acting on his feelings… but Yuugi needed to know the regard in which he was being held. There would be no secrets between them, Atem decided firmly. Perhaps a price would have to be paid for that trust tonight, nonetheless, he did not believe in facades. Yuugi would know the true character of the man he was so determined to protect.

Yuugi squirmed slightly when Atem leaned down close to his face, giving him the chance to look into his eyes and perceive his intent. Gently resisting, Yuugi slowly began to crawl backward until his back softly encountered the stone wall of their shelter, his eyes wide with some unnamable emotion. Atem crawled after him on his hands and knees, taking his time as he caged the other's body with his own, his arms and legs on either side. He could almost count each individual droplet of sweat on his skin. He leaned in again, his nose and mouth hovering, just barely skimming his neck where it met the shoulder, the delicious skin so close and tempting to his lips. He blew on the damp skin, and felt a hitch in the other's breathing, as if he were swallowing silently. He felt more than saw Yuugi open his mouth and then close it again. He lowered his chin and allowed his gaze to drift down the length of his companion's body. He smirked.

Yuugi was aroused.

He returned his attention to Yuugi's neck and fell upon it with a harsh sigh through his nose. Yuugi cried out and his hands swiftly came up to clutch the pharaoh's bare shoulders. With abandon, he licked, kissed and sucked, tasting the salty sweat, urged on by the delightful whimpers and squirms of the other. His hand ghosted down his body and slid under the waistband of his pants. Yuugi shouted once, loudly, as he felt Atem close his hand around him, and he began to buck under him violently. Atem continued his assault upon his neck while his other hand pumped him furiously, allowing the weight of his upper body to fall upon Yuugi, pinning him to the ground, holding him down. Yuugi moaned and thrashed so much, it was a struggle to hold him still.

A trickle of wetness slipped between his lips and the skin he was giving his full attention to that was not sweat. He stopped and pulled back to look down at Yuugi. His cheeks glistened under the moonlight and his eyes were screwed up tightly as he pushed himself against the hand pleasuring him. "Oh god," he was calling out, "oh god…" Atem swept down then and captured his cries in his mouth, kissing him thoroughly, while grinding his own aching desire against his side. He groaned, knowing it wouldn't be long before he would have to satisfy the demands of his own body. Yuugi kissed back, wrapping one his arm around his shoulders while the other struggled with removing the shirt from his back. Atem stopped long enough to do that for him, before going back into the kiss, pressing their bare chests together. Together they removed more of the lower garment until it was around Yuugi's legs. He kissed his way down his neck, to his chest and back up again. Yuugi dug and twisted his fingers into his hair, tugging and pulling. Atem relieved himself of his kilt and then lowered his body completely onto the other, allowing him to feel his desire.

Suddenly Yuugi's fingers dug in to his back hard and he twisted his head away from his kisses. "We… We can't do this…" he panted, even as he ground against the other. "We shouldn't…" He gasped, struggling to moisten his dry lips with his tongue, as Atem started to lift one of his legs. "Please, oh god!" He squeezed his eyes shut, more tears running out of the corners of them. "I want you… I do… We just… we can't, _oh god_!" He screamed out, shocked, and began to sob. Atem stopped and looked into his lover's eyes as he trembled in his arms.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked hoarsely. He had heard Yuugi, barely, through the haze of his lust. Only his pained shriek had obliterated through the fog of passion, bringing him back down to earth.

Yuugi used this opportunity to reach up and cup both sides of Atem's face. "We can't do this," he tried to explain through his own lust, pain, and emotion. "I can't protect you like this. Please. I'm sorry."

Atem trembled, unwilling to stop, because he ached so much to start driving into the other. "Yuugi, you have to know…" he began, desperate to try to save something from this, frightened he had destroyed something that could not be repaired. "This is not… You are not…"

Yuugi nodded, schooling back a wince. "I know, I know. But not here…" Finally he couldn't hold it back and his face twisted in discomfort. "Ow."

If nothing else had the power to kill the mood, it was this. He did not wish to harm Yuugi by continuing, so he withdrew. He made himself get off the other and watched him pull his pants back on, frustrated beyond belief.

"I have never been refused," he grumbled before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth. It was the other head that was doing the thinking, and he instantly regretted it the second it left his lips.

Yuugi's mouth turned downward, unhappy. "I'm sorry. Please… please understand." His round eyes were so large with sadness, Atem felt horrible. How could he have said something so cruel?

"I do. I want to understand." Atem struggled to retain his composure. Truthfully he wanted to crawl under a rock to die. He honestly did not know how to handle this.

Yuugi crawled over to Atem and knelt between the other's parted legs. He leaned in, took his face, turned it up, and softly kissed his mouth. The gesture was so sweet, so _everything_, Atem closed his eyes and accepted it. The other held him, gently stroking, and running his hands up and down his back, rocking him back and forth ever so slightly. Very tenderly he pulled back in the other's arms, looking into the face of the one who had captured his heart so thoroughly in the span of two suns. He stroked the side of Yuugi's face in a light, continuous caress. Yuugi just smiled that breathtaking smile of his again and leaned into his touch.

"We have met in another life," the god king spoke with quiet wonder. "We must have. I have never connected to another so completely. Your soul speaks so clearly to my own."

Yuugi kissed him on the forehead, and simply smiled again, a touch mysteriously if he didn't know any better. "We need to sleep if we want to reach Siamun by tomorrow night."

"Yes." Atem was dismayed Yuugi had not returned his sentiments, but he refused to let it show. "Yes, we do."

* * *

Yuugi couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned on his sandy non-mattress, restless and unhappy. All the while what had happened between the pharaoh and himself kept replaying over and over in his treacherous mind in a torturous wheel. He was glad Atem was dead to the world and couldn't see how Yuugi kept putting his hands over his face, running them down his features to smother his inner groans. It was bad enough that he had to discover that he was not, in fact, as straight as he previously believed, but for him to allow himself to act on those feelings at the worst possible time - not to mention out in the open before Re and everyone! What if an enemy had randomly come by while they had been fooling around?

_I'll tell you what would have happened: we would be dead!_ He thought, making fists of frustration. _How could I be so stupid?_

_It wasn't just_ your _fault_, a logical voice countered from the back of his mind. _It takes two to tango, as they say. This is as much his fault as it is yours._

_Yeah, but_ I _like to think that I know better,_ he shot back. _I'm supposed to be from the_ future. Yuugi nearly snorted aloud at the pretentious thought. _Yeah, Marty McFly_, he muttered sarcastically, _your logic is two lightening bolts short of a flux capacitor. What's next, your mother falling in love with you, or Libyan terrorists showing up to kill you? For all that I know Atem could be my great-one-thousand-billion-times-great granddaddy! _Yuugi shuddered in disgust. _On second thought, I think I'll take the Libyans. Much less therapy inducing, at least then I would be mercifully dead. Of course then being dead right now isn't exactly a constructive plan of action, Yuugi, so just get over yourself.**_

Okay, so he _almost_ stupidly had what would have been awesome-beyond-your-wildest-fantasy sex with Atem in the middle of the Egyptian desert. He smiled. Anzu would have loved that. This kind of stuff was right up her alley. A sudden image of Atem sporting a Fabio cut on the cover of a trashy romance novel, over buff, standing on a windswept desert cliff, God Pyramid shining brightly, as he drew back a great golden bow made Yuugi clamp down so hard on his lip to keep from screaming in laughter it almost bled.

All right, he decided after he managed to calm his insides down and composed his thoughts. So he was attracted to Atem, and he _definitely_ had demonstrated absolutely no resistance to getting intimate with him. Atem, for whatever that was going through his mind, definitely wanted to sleep with him. He clearly saw nothing wrong with doing it anywhere he wanted to. But Yuugi could understand that. Atem was used to doing what he wanted, whenever he wanted, because he'd been shielded from harm all his life. He'd never been ambushed mid-coitus, so of course he wouldn't expect to be.

So it left him to be the adult here. _Wonderful! I'm not only stuck in ancient Egypt, I have to protect a god king who is not only horny, but horny for_ me. A small part of Yuugi withered inside. This was so much simpler when they had been two spirits sharing a body. They hadn't had to deal with being sexually attracted to one another because it simply hadn't been physically possible.

_I hadn't even known it could have been that way between us if he'd had his own body_.

Yuugi turned over and gazed up at the moon with a quiet sigh. He supposed it explained the spirit's over protectiveness of him. He just hadn't expected that those feelings to have manifested into sexual attraction!

He took a deep breath and let it out, closing his eyes. The bottom line was as he'd told Atem: the enemy was still out there. They had to be vigilant if they wanted to make it out alive. _I have to be strong_, he chanted inwardly. _For the both of us, I have to be strong. This is a game I've never played before… and what scares me is this is a game that I might not even want to win._

The next morning, after feeding and watering the horse, Yuugi and Atem struck out for the day long journey that would take them to Siamun's home. Atem was acting oddly distant; he spoke only when Yuugi spoke to him, and even then he said very little, and his answers were curt and straight to the point. Very obviously he was still smarting from the previous evening and noticeably avoided direct eye contact. Gone were the flirtations and innuendos and the deliberate not-so-innocent casual touches. In fact, Atem abstained from touching Yuugi altogether unless it was absolutely necessary, as in helping him off and on the horse or tapping an arm or a shoulder to gain his attention. Yuugi tried to keep in good spirits, but found his attempts at jokes falling flat, and his optimistic, cheery utterances met with stoic receptions. Eventually he fell into a pensive silence.

Outwardly meek and disappointed, inside Yuugi was practically hopping around in agitation. Part of him declared Atem had _no right_ to act this way and urged him to call the sulking pharaoh out on his puerile behavior. He was _completely_ justified in putting on the brakes, he wanted to argue, and there was _no way_ in heck he was going to feel bad about _protecting_ Atem!

_Besides I… I'm not really sure _how_ I feel. Sure, I'm attracted to him, and I do love him but… It _can't_ happen and I need to find a way to make him understand that._

He was jarred from his train of thought when the horse neighed and bucked slightly back on its rear legs, side stepping sharply to the left. Atem cursed and yanked on the reins. Yuugi tightened his grip around the pharaoh's waist and called out, as he tried to see what was causing the animal so much distress. "What is it?" he finally yelled.

Atem ignored him. "Hold on!" he shouted before pulling out of Yuugi's arms and dismounting swiftly. The glint of his dagger flashed in the sunlight as he drew it. Yuugi was left in a lurch and scrambled forward to catch the reins flopping around along the equine's back. He scooted up until he reached the panicked creature's mane and hung on to its neck for dear life. Craning his head around, he was able to see what the pharaoh was stalking toward with his dagger at the ready. He gasped.

It was a black cobra. Its hood was flared out and it was on full on defense-attack mode, primed and ready to strike. Atem walked around it in a slow circle, keeping eye to eye with the reptile. It followed his movements, weaving gently to and fro, tracking him. Looking from between the cobra and the man, Yuugi couldn't decide which of them looked fiercer. He swallowed and twisted the leathery ropes of the reins around in his hands nervously.

Suddenly the snake, as if it wasn't already enough of a monster, glowed a smoky-purple color, and increased its size until its shadow engulfed the horse, its rider, and the man standing between them. _There's no way it could have done that if it wasn't magically induced!_ Yuugi chanced a glance at the pharaoh, and was shocked to see a smirk on Atem's face. _He's not afraid? _

_Then again why would he be? _A voice calmly encountered from the back of his mind. _He's_ Atem.

And Atem looked like he was enjoying himself. The smirk was the same one Yuugi remembered him sporting during their most grueling duels. Of course, there was a difference between a card game, and a deadly serpent. Yuugi was hard-pressed to tell Atem that, and he opened his mouth to shout after his friend to be careful. The pharaoh ignored him and closed his eyes for the briefest of moments before he opened them again.

Then all hell broke loose.

The God Pyramid began to shimmer, picking up a steady radiance until the thing was practically glowing like a second, smaller cousin to the sun. It seemed to engulf the entire desert. Yuugi held up one arm to shield his eyes and squinted against the onslaught. He thought he saw the shadowy form of the snake strike, yet he couldn't be sure, because he couldn't _see_.

_Where - ?_

As steadily and gradually as the Item had began summoning its power, it went out immediately like a snuffed candle. It even sounded like a candle going out; a kind of air-displacement cutting through the atmosphere around them, followed by the heavy acrid smell of smoke. For a moment, Yuugi cupped his hand over his nose, to ward off a sneeze, as he squinted through the sand and the earth the phenomenon had stirred up. At last, he was able to discern what had happened.

Immediately he knew the cobra was dead. It lay limp in a lump of scaly, glistening, ebony coils in the middle of the desert floor. Yuugi's eyes shifted back and forth frantically, searching. _Where are you, come on, where are you, don't do this to me…_

Suddenly a tanned hand shot up from behind the mass of dead reptile, gripped on to the side of the beast, before hauling the rest of itself to its feet. It staggered forward out of the dust cloud and stood over the corpse. Almost at once the carcass shrank back to its original size. Atem nudged it once with one sandaled foot before sheathing his dagger, which Yuugi noticed had some blood on it, back into the sash on his kilt. Yuugi watched him until he had come back to the horse and he was still staring at him by the time the man had remounted the beast.

Atem picked up the reins and looked down and around at the shell-shocked smaller man. "Ready?"

That one word was enough to bring Yuugi out of his daze. "What… What was that?" he blurted.

"That?" Atem shrugged. "It was some sort of sorcery. Likely it is probably the work of whomever it was who wants me dead." He smiled predatorily. "Fortunately for us he did not succeed."

Yuugi waved his hands around wildly before remembering to grab on to his charge's waist again. "But you could have…" he stuttered, at a complete loss for words.

"_T'e_."

"It was a huge _snake_, and it was poisonous, and it could have… _you_ could have…"

"I imagine it would have." Atem was unflappable. "However, the both of us would hardly have been a meal for a creature such as that one. Had it come down to it, my next move would have been to offer it the horse." He clucked at the animal, and patted it on the neck affectionately, as if he hadn't been talking about sacrificing it, and eased it into a gentle canter.

Stumbling and fumbling, Yuugi found his tongue at last, and he blasted out his fury, unchecked. "How can you be so damn calm? Do you have _any_ idea of what almost happened? Do you realize what this _means_ for us? What it means for _you_? _They know where we are!_ They know what we are doing! Siamun's place is out of the question now! We _have_ to go back, we have to…" His tirade was interrupted by Atem twisting around in his seat, pulling Yuugi up by the collar of his shirt, and sealing his mouth completely over his. Yuugi was so shocked by the action, he froze, his violet eyes almost bugging out of his head. After a long breathless moment, Atem released him from the single, passionate, lip-lock and returned his attention to guiding the horse.

For a moment, Yuugi slumped against his companion's back. His insides were noodles, and every hormone in his entire body was throwing a party. He stifled the dopy grin that very much wanted to crack his face in half, for a weak, almost dazed expression. "What… what was that for?" he murmured.

"To calm you down." Atem didn't turn around. "You get excited rather easily, Yuugi. If you want to serve me equitably, you will have to learn to control yourself a bit better." Now he glanced over his shoulder, shooting him that same damn smirk he had given the cobra. Yuugi had the good grace to turn his head away so he wouldn't see him mouth, in what surely would have been a grumble if he'd let himself say it aloud: "Bastard."

* * *

_*Yes_

_**an extended comparison to the protagonist and the plot of the 80s science fiction comedy, _Back to the Future_, that starred Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. _


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The journey to Siamun's took longer than Atem wanted it to. Yuugi did not fare desert travel well. His pitifully pale skin tanned quickly before finally reddening to what seemed a perpetual blush tinting his face and the across bridge of his small nose. The odd garb he wore hung on his thin frame heavily, stained dark from his sweat, clinging beneath his armpits and sticking the backs of his legs. Under the hot sun, he became lethargic and listless. More than once during their amble over the sandy terrain Atem felt the gentle brush of his companion's head and nose against his back. A single glance over his shoulder presented a dull-eyed, half-conscious person dangerously close to collapsing from heat exhaustion.

_We are not going to get anywhere like this_, he thought grimly. It was time for them to stop.

Clucking his tongue at the horse, Atem guided it to a rock formation casting its long shadow. After a quick scan of the area, he decided it was a safe place to stop for the evening. Once they were enveloped in the fullness of the cool shade, he dismounted smoothly. Next he gently manhandled the barely coherent Yuugi off the animal's back, and allowed the younger man to lean against him. He led him to the temporary shelter and set him gently to the ground. After he figured out how to open Yuugi's 'canteen,' he pressed it against the other's dry, chapped lips, urging him to drink. He seemed to come to then, and gradually lifted his hand to grasp the strange water skein. Gratefully he began to swallow down its contents with rapid, thirsty gulps.

"_Dua Netjer en ek_,"* he murmured. His eyes still were completely closed.

Atem smiled back as he made himself comfortable. The boy spoke with such a strange accent. "You are welcome." He picked up the edge of Yuugi's tunic and dabbed at the sheen of sweat sparkling on the boy's sunburned skin. Yuugi winced instinctively, sucking his breath in sharply, and recoiled from the touch. The pharaoh, understanding, pulled away. The sensation caused Yuugi to fully open his eyes and make note of their surroundings. After taking in all that the sights had to offer, which wasn't much, he slumped once more. "My stomach hurts," he murmured.

He was certain it did. "Are you hungry?"

Yuugi shook his head. "No. It… just hurts."

Almost without thinking, Atem laid his hand over the boy's stomach and began to rub in slow, soothing, circular patterns. His wet nurse used to do this when his stomach hurt, he smiled at the memory, so maybe it would help his companion too. It seemed the right course of action; Yuugi leaned into the light massage with a contented sigh, letting his head fall to rest on the young king's bare shoulder. "_I'm_ supposed to be taking care of _you_," he mumbled against the skin pressing against his lips, sounding only mildly irritable. "'Mind me next time, 'kay?"

Resisting the urge to show his companion greater affection, (Yuugi had a terminal adorability about him which could prove a dangerous distraction if he wasn't careful) Atem brushed the sticky and damp bangs to the sides of his face. "You already are beginning to owe me so much more than I will ever be capable of repaying," he murmured. The least he could do in return was make sure his protector didn't perish under the punishing might of the sun.

"Hmm?" Yuugi wasn't listening. Gone for the moment was the rebellious young man who simultaneously defied and deferred to the pharaoh at every turn. Perhaps in some places these polarities of his personality were a normal occurrence, Atem reflected. Or maybe Yuugi was, as previously noted, simply odd. Whatever the reason, he found himself liking his measure more and more.

_If only he would tell me where he was from!_ This was forever going to be a louse in his kilt, he grumbled mentally. What made it worse was as much as he desired to shake the answers from his savior – and his own ability to get them easily - he refused to do so. Not when there was so much at risk for him, and possibly the entirety of, the land of Kemet.

When he was certain Yuugi was well and truly asleep, Atem carefully untangled himself from him. No matter about that. If they wanted to be fit for travel in the morning, they would need food and water. It had been a while since he'd had to survive out in the wilderness in this way, yet the old survival training honed in childhood had a funny way of dying hard. He was only too grateful for its reemergence now.

By the time Yuugi woke from his short nap, Atem had their food needs taken care of, and located a water source to replenish their supply. The younger man stared with wide-eyed astonishment at the assortment of fresh kill and plants that lay before him. "How did you manage to find all of this?" he blurted incredulously, causing a proud smile to stretch across the pharaoh's face.

Atem plopped beside him, the success of the hunt having spurred him into robust spirits. He cuffed the other in the shoulder good-naturedly. "Have you no idea what a giving creature the Black Land can be?" he grinned. "The gods smile upon a man who understands the gifts they send him, and as I am their representative on earth, I intercede with them on mankind's behalf." He gestured happily to their meal. "Much to our good fortune I should say!"

Yuugi drew his lips between his teeth and bit down on them hard, slightly sucking his cheeks in. Atem frowned. Was Yuugi holding back _laughter_? He narrowed his eyes at the other. "You would mock me, Yuugi?"

Yuugi blinked and drew back his head in surprise. He stopped biting his lips. "No! I was just… Forgive me, but you looked so very serious, it was… funny… in a nice way."

Then he smiled, and suddenly Atem forgot why he had been so offended in the first place. Instead of engaging in further reprimand, he offered Yuugi his canteen. The young man took it and sipped it, licking his lips noisily as he test tasted it. "How much farther is it?" he asked, picking up a piece of what Atem had brought back with him, examining it this way and that way. After being assured it was edible just the way it was, he sniffed it, shrugged, and popped it into his mouth.

"We should reach Siamun's residence by tomorrow, as Re wills it." Atem's gaze cast itself briefly to the sky in reverence. "We are making good time, despite my being wrong about reaching Siamun's by tonight. Failing another encounter with my enemy's sorcery, I do not foresee any further delay."

"Further delay?" Yuugi repeated, face instantly heavy with guilty. "I'm not slowing us down am I? Because I can make it, really, I can! I just need to rest and… I'll be fine!" He stood to illustrate, wobbled, and started to stumble to the side. Atem rose instantly and caught the other as he fell against him. Yuugi blushed beet red, embarrassed, and slid down once again to sit on the ground. "S-Sorry," he mumbled.

Atem smiled winningly. "Do not worry. The heat has disoriented you. A night of rest with food and water will put you to rights again. It has happened to me," he added with a conspiratorial wink, "so do not think it is because you think you are not handling it well."

Yuugi smiled back, though doubt still lurked in his eyes. "Do you travel a lot?" he asked, shifting to make himself more comfortable.

Atem settled in beside his self-proclaimed guardian, enmeshing his fingers together so that they rested lightly in his lap. "When I was Prince, I travelled often." He glanced sidelong at the other's attentive expression. "It is important for a prince to introduce himself to his subjects while he is still free to do so. I have not travelled for many months, however; I have not been sovereign for so very long that I have forgotten how to survive." A thin, grim smile turned up the corners of his mouth. "I cannot decide if this is a good thing or not. The gods are testing me lately in ways I cannot fathom."

Yuugi laid a hand on Atem's arm. It felt sweaty and hot where their skins came into contact but he could not bring himself to move away. "They sent you me," he intoned with that infectious little smile of his. "They must mean for you to succeed."

His own smile softened and became genuine. He wasn't sure if that was true, although it sounded good to him. He covered Yuugi's pale, delicate hand with his own darker, coarser one, and caressed it. "That they did, little one; that they did." And because he could not resist the depths of those violet eyes, he captured Yuugi's lips between his own in a brief, chaste kiss.

At length, Yuugi eventually moved away, gently drawing his head backward so their lips softly parted. His eyes were closed, so he could not see what was in Yuugi's mind when he whispered, quiet as the patter of raindrops upon dry earth. "We can't do that." Then only did his eyes open, and the beseeching in them shamed Atem to the core. "Please don't make this hard for us."

Mortified, Atem flushed a bright crimson. He could feel the sting in his palms from where his nails bit into the skin. How _dare_ he… he _presume_ to place the blame squarely upon _his_ head!

"Hard? For us? I?" he growled dangerously, driving forward angrily. Seeking to prove his point, Atem seized Yuugi's chin between his fingers and aggressively forced their mouths to meet. His fingers twined themselves in the strands of the other's hair as he held onto him fast, using his free arm to wrap around the younger man's skinny frame and trap him against his own body. When Yuugi began to struggle, he poured more of his passion into the kiss – which was not difficult to do. To his near to grim satisfaction, and secret exhilaration, Yuugi's own arms slid around and gripped onto the pharaoh's shoulders in fierce desperation. He felt him begin to rub his lower region up into his hips and between his thighs. Atem moaned against his mouth and ground back. Oh he could have had the lovely man right there on the desert floor if he wanted to! But even as sense was being siphoned off from his brain with each languid, wet stroke of Yuugi's tongue against his palette, when the odd young man at last gasped, and all but shoved him off, Atem let him. He retreated, licking his lips, tasting his victory while savoring the last traces of their kiss.

He aimed an accusing digit at the other man. "I cannot and will not deny what I feel!" he boomed. "It is undeniably clear despite your _noble_ proclamations; _you_ do not wish to do so either!" He rebuffed Yuugi's storm cloud expression. "You imagine you are putting me in danger by allowing yourself to feel for me. If you truly wish to protect me, Yuugi, protect _yourself_ firstly! But do _not_ deny," he gestured between them, "_this_!"

Yuugi's hands curled into slightly shaking fists. "I never denied 'this,' _Pharaoh_." Oh that hurt. "I just don't think we can afford to let it _distract_ us the way it has. We could be safe now, we could be in danger now, but until I, until _we_," he gestured between them wildly, "can be sure, we just… we need to be _smart_ about this. Okay? Please?" He leaned in close to Atem, who had grown more sphinx-like and regally remote with each word he spoke. "I know in my heart you want to respect my feelings. I promise you, we… we will have our time."

Atem remained unmoved, and for a long length of time, he held Yuugi's unwavering, determined gaze with stoic resolve. Eventually Yuugi's last statement echoed in his mind. _"I promise you, we will have our time."_ Slowly he began to relax, and he found a small smile begin to turn up the corners of his mouth. His pulse began to race. "Truly?" he heard himself say weakly; immensely relieved in a way he had not expected to feel. Had he really been so afraid of losing him?

Yuugi held up a hand in a curious gesture. "Scout's honor."

"'Scout's honor?'"

The other only smiled. "Just a little saying where I come from. It means I'm being honest with you."

Atem smiled back, warm and gentle. "As I hope you will ever be, little one." Yuugi flinched. "What is it?"

Yuugi blanched and turned his head to the side, avoiding the pharaoh's questioning gaze. "Well, er, nothing, just... I _hate_ being called little. I mean, I _am_ little, just… I don't need to be reminded of it, is all, I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck and coughed into his hand, finally meeting Atem's eyes. "You know?"

Atem smiled. "Yes, I do. I am… not quite of the stature I would like to be myself. But," he winked, "I am confident my royal artists and sculptors will be embellishing _that_ particular aspect."

Yuugi covered his mouth to smother a snigger. Atem grinned widely and chuckled.

* * *

If Yuugi had imagined that another night spent in the desert wasn't going to be full of its own plethora of challenges, he received a better schooling than he liked. Jackals howled and yipped in the distance, sometimes sounding alarmingly close by until Atem reassured him they weren't. Sound travelled well downwind, he explained, and often gave the illusion that animals or people were closer than they really were. He hoped Atem was right, because it would _really_ be all kinds of rotten if they got eaten by jackals before they were able to do anything to save Egypt.

But then Atem said, just as he was beginning to relax: "It's when the jackals are_ not_ making noise _those_ are the ones you want to watch out for."

Immediately Yuugi stiffened and pressed against the pharaoh's side. "_What?_" He squeaked. "Don't tell me that, don't _ever_ tell me that, _why_ would you tell me that!" If his voice had pitched any higher, it would have cracked.

"Relax, Yuugi." Atem let out one of his deep, rumbling chuckles. "I shall protect you. You know that much, do you not?" Pause. "Perhaps you would like to hear a song, to put your mind at ease?" he offered, sounding almost tentative, even shy. Imagine that: Atem shy. Yuugi never would have believed it if he hadn't been there himself. Yuugi's eyes opened, surprised, before they felt back to half mast with a barely restrained grin turning the corners of his mouth up.

"Yeah…" he murmured. "Yeah, I would like that very much."

"Do you have a preference?"

"No. Just… whatever you like is okay with me." He didn't add on that he actually didn't _know_ any songs – at least any songs that Atem would be familiar with.

He heard the smile in the pharaoh's voice as he spoke. "Then I will share with you a song I have always enjoyed."

The soothing tenor of his companion's voice gradually eased the tightly wound coil of tension within his stomach. Yuugi let his body rest more languorously against the other. Slowly but surely his head lolled upon the strong, brown shoulder, and with a slight smile, he began to drift off. Atem had a beautiful singing voice; when he pitched it just so, it had a soothing cadence to it that reminded him oddly of rolling ocean waves breaking against the sand.

_He used to do this when I had the Puzzle,_ he remembered, his smile widening for a brief moment. Some nights, the spirit used sit by his bed, watching him sleep. Sometimes if Yuugi was awake, and asked it of him, he'd sing, just the way he was doing now: very quietly with his mouth close to Yuugi's ear. _No one ever heard his songs but me,_ he thought happily, _only me, because he was for _me_, he was for me alone… _

As sleep took him he felt Atem's fingers gently caress through his hair, lightly grazing his cheek and neck as they traveled up and then down.

* * *

It seemed like he'd only just closed his eyes, taken away on a dream of Atem's song and a gentle touch, before his shoulder was being shaken, and Atem's voice was urging him to wake. He yawned, stretched, and dragged the back of his hand across his grit-filled eyes. Blinking slowly, he waited for his mind to orient itself, and he remembered where he was and what he was doing. He was surprised to find the sun hadn't yet risen fully. The Eastern horizon glowed with the haloed promise of another hot desert day, the faint suggestion of dawn silhouetting cacti plants against the bluish gray of the early morning sky.

Atem had already stashed their belongings and now that he had gotten Yuugi up, was preoccupied preparing the horse to resume their journey. For the first time Yuugi noticed that the animal did not look well. Desert travel did not sit with it; its eyes were almost bloodshot, and the saliva around its nose and mouth was starting to froth and dangle in white, foamy ropes. Atem petted the animal and stroked its coarse mane almost lovingly. "We shall be at Siamun's shortly," he assured it softly. "You have more than just served me well, beautiful one, and you shall have your due rest."

Yuugi had to stop himself from shouting aloud, unable to believe he had failed to notice it up until now. This was the same horse he'd seen Atem ride in the world of his memories! It had to be! But as much as Yuugi wanted to wave his arms around and hop around in excitement over the realization, he knew he didn't have the time to dwell on it. There was no one else here to appreciate the discovery with him anyway.

_I better get used to that_, he thought, _because I have a feeling this is going to keep happening to me a lot._ Not for the first time, he felt a faint twinge of homesickness. He wrestled it back, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge its lingering traces worming their way into his heart. The journey ahead was long and there were miles to go before he would be able to sleep. Yuugi smiled as he picked himself up, brushing the sand and the sand from his back and rear. Never would he have imagined he'd been paraphrasing Robert Frost*** out in the middle of the Egyptian desert!

Comparatively speaking, the rest of the way to Siamun's seemed a hop and a skip to the hard traveling they'd done the day before. After only an hour of riding, the sight of a small village appeared on the horizon. Yuugi forgot himself for a moment and gave a small "Whoo hoo!" and pumped both fists in the air happily. He blushed when Atem turned his head slightly to the side to stare peculiarly at him. He colored even more and turned his own head to look away when the pharaoh just smiled amusedly before returning his eyes to the front.

It became immediately clear their approach had not gone unnoticed. From the moment they entered the village, people began emerging from their homes, or pause in their daily going-abouts to watch the men as they passed through. An elderly woman, stooped over from age and many hard years of toil, froze as if stricken, before throwing back her head to cry out: "The Living Horus! He has come before us!" before prostrating herself upon her knees. Without a second blink, the rest of the peasants sank to their own knees, almost as if they'd all synchronized the movement in advance. Atem seemed unaffected by the massive show of reverence (and why would he be – duh, he was a _god_ in this world). Yuugi stared down at them, mouth parted slightly open, as they passed majestically through the small village.

"All hail the living god! All hail Pharaoh!"

Despite the burning press of the sun, Yuugi felt a rippling shiver scurry down his spine, and leaned involuntarily against Atem's back. Never before had he seen, or would see again, the wave of adulation Atem had just caused with his arrival. Kaiba's showy-offy entrances at Duel Monster tournaments had _nothing_ on this! Heck knew the man _looked_ the part: head held high, his proud, flinty red gaze set in determination and resolve, his regal bearing tall and intimidating, and in spite of his desert tattered rags, he wore them as if they were the greatest finery ever woven. Even the head wound he still very obviously bore faded before the epic production of composure he was presenting to his subjects. From where he was situated behind him, Yuugi found himself almost looking past the injuries too.

_Almost,_ he thought emphatically, _but not quite, because I know better._ In just as much awe… but he still knew better.

When they had reached the apex of the village, Atem gave a light tug on the reigns. Gazing around at the many tan backs, most bare and slick shiny with sweat from the heat, he made a full, silent sweep of the area, before speaking. His voice boomed in Yuugi's ears with calmly restrained authority. "Where might I find the priest Siamun, who is master of this village? Who will answer?"

A little girl kneeling closest to them upon the ground, to their right side, lifted her head. "He is at home!" she piped up before her mother's hand whipped out and made as if to push the child's head to the earth again.

"Forgive an ignorant child, Your Majesty!" cried the mother, clearly terrified. "She knows not how to act before the Living Horus!"

Atem only smiled, obliquely winking at the child as her head came up briefly and they caught gazes again. "It is all right. She has done no wrong. I would only ask her to lead me to his home and announce me to his household, as proper."

Slipping up from under her mother's admonishing hand the little girl gleefully rose to do Atem's bidding. Her eagerness and bright eyes caused Yuugi to smile. She reminded him a little of what Anzu had been like when she was that age: More energy and life in her than anyone, including herself, knew what to do with. He found himself missing her with such ferocity, he started to sniff. He pretended he was just relieving an itch and rubbed his nose on his shoulder. Atem didn't seem to notice, though. He was more intent on following the energetic child as she skipped ahead of the horse and beckoned excitedly.

Siamun's home was on the highest ground, just outside of the small village cluster. It was walled off on the back and side areas, which housed a multitude of floral greenery from what Yuugi could see peeking up over the tops of the enclosed home. If he had been expecting a sprawling estate and the equivalent of a mini-castle, Yuugi's expectations were sorely disappointed. It was opulent enough, he observed as the child led the horse through the open gate, and there was no mistaking the place belonged to someone who was very well off, but it seemed rather subdued looking to him.

_I guess this is what passes for upper middle class suburbia 3000 years ago,_ Yuugi thought, before clamping down his lower lip to keep from bursting into howls. The reason why he found it so hilarious was because he'd heard Jounouchi's voice in his head, saying this out loud. Just picturing his best friend's face made laughter swell in his chest. He had to be going crazy from heat exhaustion.

_I wonder if I'll ever get to tell him about any of this._

From the moment the tiny entourage had entered the compound, a well-dressed slave girl working outside, carrying a large basket, spied them, dropped what she was doing and raced into the home, shouting the name of her master over and over again frantically. Yuugi strained his ears to hear what she was yelling in addition to that but the language she spoke was not familiar to him.

Atem reined the horse to a stop and smoothly dismounted (was there _any_ move he made that wasn't done perfectly? Yuugi snorted). Yuugi batted his hand away when he offered to help him down and jumped awkwardly to the ground. Fortunately he didn't stumble this time and brushed himself off with a little flourish, his nonverbal way of stating he could do fine on his own, thank you very much. It must have shown on his expression because Atem poked him once, hard, in the ribs. Yuugi scowled and rubbed at the spot, his attention turning to the short, elderly figure that was practically running toward them, the maid who had fetched him following close behind.

Siamun was huffing and puffing by the time he reached the pair. Yuugi was slightly surprised he didn't kneel to the earth the way the slave girl who had fetched him was currently doing. Yuugi performed a double take, staring at her. She was really pretty… probably one of the cutest girls he'd ever seen. But that wasn't the reason why he found himself staring at her.

Change the ebony black color of her hair to ginger brown and her skin from dark tan to white and she was a dead ringer for Jounouchi's little sister, Shizuka. The resemblance was truly frightening and Yuugi had to tear his gaze from hers when she canted her head to the side to peer up at him in curiosity.

Atem embraced the older man with great affection and Siamun returned his grip with equal vigor. "Thank the gods!" the aged priest exclaimed with joy when they parted. Yuugi could finally see the haggard and fright lingering in the man's bright violet eyes. "I had only just received word of the calamity this morning! I had feared the worst!" He gripped Atem's hands and fervently pressed his forehead against them. Atem appeared embarrassed but tolerated the exaggerated display of reverence with remarkable poise. "May you live forever, my pharaoh!"

_At least he's not kissing your feet,_ Yuugi thought, chewing on his inner cheek, before chiding himself. _This is how their culture is, _he rebuked himself, _and you ought to learn some respect. Just because you know he's not _actually_ a god, and don't believe as they do, doesn't mean you have to make fun of it. _

Finally noticing the short young man standing beside his pharaoh, Siamun stared at him with pure, unadulterated shock. His eyes went back and forth rapidly between Yuugi and Atem, his uncovered visage rife with confusion. "Sire, if I may trouble you to ask," his voice was hesitant, uncertain. "Who is this?"

Atem laid an arm across Yuugi's shoulders, the gesture so familiar and trusting, it took even Yuugi aback. "This is Yuugi. He has been sent to me by the gods to protect me from the new enemy who lurks in our midst. It is because of him that I still walk amongst the living."

This Siamun greeted with all of the 'that's bullshit' that could be put into an expression. Sent by the _gods_? Yuugi didn't blame him for his visible skepticism and wanted to smack himself on the forehead for Atem's poor choice of a cover story. If it wasn't so important not to mess up history, Yuugi would have been tempted to correct him and explain where he was really from. He was more H.G. Wells chasing after Jack the Ripper in modern L.A.**** than Dr. Who chasing the monster of the week in whatever dimension they happened to be in. However, he supposed it was the simplest explanation possible at this point. _Come to think of it, being sent by the gods is way more believable than either of those scenarios!_

Yuugi really didn't know how to greet Siamun properly, glancing uncertainly at Atem for a second, before he ended his indecision by awkwardly bowing to the elderly priest. This appeared to be the correct thing to do: Siamun returned the gesture with a genial smile. Yuugi felt the unease drain from him. So far it seemed coming to him had been the right course of action.

Siamun clapped his hands together once. The not-Shizuka twitched to attention. "Let us take shelter from this heat. You must be exhausted from your journey. Nefer!" The girl, presumably Nefer, scrambled to her feet. "Tend to our pharaoh and have Layla see to the needs of his companion at once!"

"Yes, my master," Nefer murmured, perfectly demure and diffident, keeping her eyes to the ground. She kowtowed to the pharaoh, forehead touching the earth. "Your Majesty, if it would please you to follow me…"

Atem grinned at her pleasantly, which Yuugi interpreted to mean: 'Baby, it _would_ please me to follow you…" He swallowed to moisten a drying throat and engaged Nefer to slowly crack a small, yet shy, smile when they made eye contact. From the heated exchange of glances, Yuugi could tell an attempt at carnal pursuit might be put in play tonight, and oddly enough, this made him feel relieved. If Atem's desires could be steered at someone else, even a servant girl Shizuka-look-alike, he could concentrate on finding the pharaoh's would-be killer.

_No matter how much it hurts._

Yuugi started to follow Atem, as he in turn was led by Nefer, when a slim hand fell upon his shoulder. A bit startled, he turned his head to the newcomer, saw she was taller than him and had to look up - and just stopped short of shouting aloud when he was again met with another too-familiar face.

It was Anzu… if Anzu were an Egyptian slave girl. Like her modern day doppelganger, this not-Anzu had bright blue eyes, positing a nice startling contrast to the golden brown of her skin. "Uh," he began uncertainly, trying not to stammer, "hi there." _Layla,_ he remembered the old man calling her, _her name is Layla._ "Layla?" She nodded, smiling serenely. His eyes traveled around the court yard one last time, and finding nothing suspicious, he consented to following the taller young woman's lead.

She led them through the small yet spacious home and out into a large open bathing area. He noticed, with some relief, that Atem and Nefer, along with a contingent of Siamun's other servants, were already there. Atem was receiving the royal treatment befit of his godly position and wasn't lifting a finger for himself. Yuugi just thanked whatever god that was in charge of these moments they were on the other side of the bathing area. Being naked near Atem was _not_ what he needed right now and certainly _not_ in the presence of others.

_Wait a minute, naked… oh hell no!_ Yuugi halted at the water's edge, a stricken expression on his face. Ignoring the heat blazing in his cheeks, he realized what was about to happen. "You're not… going to…um, take my, um, my clothes off… are you…?" he asked in a small, very quiet voice, ashamed of the unmanly tone and pitch.

Not-Anzu – Layla - merely smiled and put a finger to her lips almost coyly, as if she found his prudery amusing. Yuugi closed his eyes, worked up his nerve, bit his lips together and gave a short, consenting nod. _This is how they do things,_ he reminded himself for the umpteenth time in self-exasperation. _These are a desert people who have seen everything there is to see. You're the weird one here, not them_. So to use an old phrase in a new way: When in Egypt…

In the end, it wasn't half bad, he decided, since Layla displayed absolutely no reaction to his nudity. The cool water he was bathed in was poured over his head and shoulders with a bowl and the rest of it he was allowed to do himself, which amounted to little more than swimming around on his end of the pool. Any attempts he made at drying himself off were waved away by the young woman, who took it upon herself to scrub his body with drying clothes that lightly chafed against his skin. She spoke not one word to him the entire time and hardly deigned to even make eye contact with him. The only time he was able to really study her face was while she dressed and, oh boy, perfumed him with scented water and oils.

Yuugi sniffed one wrist and fought back a distasteful expression. _Bad enough I used to get accused of acting like a girl, now I have to smell like one too? _When would the humiliation end? Well, he could feasibly cut the humiliation part out, he reasoned, since this probably was the ancient version of aftershave (he had to physically throttle the urge to head for the sand dunes when she came at him with that copper razor). It was probably frankincense or something.

He was not allowed to have his old clothes back. Instead a man's white linen kilt was brought for him and a few pieces of gold jewelry similar to what Atem himself wore. His ears weren't pierced, so thankfully the earrings she brought weren't needed. He was a little chagrined at having to wear glittery gold necklaces, armlets and anklets when he knew he wasn't exactly royalty. Atem had probably ordered him to be attired in this way. His suspicions were confirmed when they met later in Siamun's garden by the fountain and he caught the up and down motion of Atem's eyes and a tiny nod of approval. This relieved as much as annoyed him: Yes, he was thankful for passing muster with the king, but geez, he wasn't even _trying_ to in the first place!

But compared to Atem, Yuugi realized, he was not dressed as fancily as he previously thought. Atem was decked out the way Yuugi best remembered him from the world of his memories, and god damn if he didn't look absolutely stunning! Every inch was covered with what he immediately dubbed "Pharaoh bling." He was deep in discussion with his mentor when Yuugi walked in. Yuugi halted the very moment their conversation stopped and barely remembered to properly kowtow.

_I'm bowing to the man who I used to have to give permission to use my body to play card games._

Unaware of the derision going through the other's mind, Atem raised a hand and waved it at him impatiently, telling him with the gesture to come on over.

_For someone who insisted on proper decorum when we first met, he's being awful dismissive of it all of a sudden,_ Yuugi thought in private amusement.

"Ah!" Siamun exclaimed, clapping his hands together warmly. "You do clean up quite nicely, young man! If it were not your pale skin, I could have mistaken you for the Exalted One's own twin." He slid a sly look at Atem, who seemed not to have found that remark quite as funny as he did. "I will believe you about him for the present, my king, yet forgive me if I will always wonder."

Atem did smile then, a little tolerant affectionate smirk. "You do perhaps put too much thought into these things, Siamun. Regardless, I would have us return to the discussion at hand." To Yuugi, gesturing for him to sit on the stone bench two slaves had carried over while Siamun had greeted them: "I have brought Siamun up to speed concerning our exploits. He has proposed a course of action that I would have your opinion of."

"What would that be?" Yuugi asked, taking the seat, and smiling gratefully at the slave girl who quietly placed a bowl of fruits beside him. The slave blushed a little at the attention and scurried away. A lot of women in this place, he absently noted.

Atem sat back a little, luxuriating in the coolness of the fountain. "Siamun, if you would?"

Siamun thanked the pharaoh and proceeded. "No doubt news of the massacre at the royal palace has traveled by now, although at this point, how much information that has gotten out about it remains unknown. While you were bathing, I gave orders that no one is to leave or enter this village without my knowledge. That should keep any information concerning the pharaoh's location from getting to the wrong ears."

Yuugi nodded in approval. If he'd been in the same position that was what he would have done. "What about the other members of your court, the other priests?" Atem and Siamun exchanged a look. Yuugi felt his stomach drop like lead. "Um, there _are_ others, right?" he added questionably, to waive their suspicions, whatever they were. He relaxed when the sudden, strange guardedness in Atem's posture and manner vanished.

_He still doesn't totally trust me,_ he thought with some dismay. _Even after what we've been through and after what I've done for him, he's ready to throw out the barricades at the first phantom sign of untrustworthiness. _

"Yes, there are. I presume you know of my High Priest, Seth?" When Yuugi acknowledged he did, he went on. "I have been giving thought to sending out a falcon to Kush,***** where he resides. If there is anyone's counsel I need right now on this matter, it is his. He is in the best position right now, I believe, to give me status about the state of Kemet." Then Atem fell silent, waiting, watching Yuugi expectantly.

Yuugi stared at him, privately astonished. He wanted _Yuugi_, to give him, _the pharaoh_, permission to trust his own High Priest? He fought to control his expression, not wanting it to betray the absolute perplexity going on in his head. _Okay, there'll be time to wonder about it later_. Yuugi gave serious thought to Seth. If history hadn't been _too_ badly thrown from its normal course, Seth _should_ still be Atem's closest friend and completely loyal to the throne of Kemet. There was no way to know exactly how much more time needed to go by before the Thief King Bakura showed up and made the mess he did with Necropades Zorc. For now, he had to trust in what he knew to be true now, here, in the present time line, in this course of events.

"Yuugi?"

Schooling back a gasp of surprise at being addressed so suddenly, Yuugi glanced up from his inner contemplation, nodding. "I think that's a good idea. But… is it possible… to encrypt the message to him?" Atem and Siamun looked at one another again and back at Yuugi, who elaborated: "Whoever is looking to eliminate you will probably be looking for messenger birds. If you guys have some sort of secret code or language, now would be the best time to use it."

Eyes sparkling with scenarios, Siamun concurred slowly, thoughtfully. "Young Yuugi has a point, sire."

Atem folded his fingers together and rested his elbows on his knees. Yuugi bit back a smile at the sight. If only he'd brought a camera…

_Your phone has a camera_… whispered a voice from the back of his head. Yuugi ignored it. He'd spend more time trying to explain to Atem how the device worked than actually using it. But he tucked that little reminder away for later. Things like that had a way of coming back to a person.

At last, Atem rose from his deep contemplation, his posture straight, and his chin held aloft. "So it has been said, so let it be done," he murmured.

Almost instantly Siamun scooted to the ground off the seat of the fountain, bowing deeply. "It shall be, my lord. Shall I compose the message myself?"

"Please do. However, have it brought to me for my approval before you release the falcon. If it does not bear my royal, personal mark, it will not be believed by those whom it was meant for. Amun knows we cannot risk poor communication, now, of all times."

"Of course, Your Majesty." With a discreet gesture, Siamun swiftly summoned one of his male scribes, a young, bald man with bright round eyes, who kept his writing supplies close on hand by his side hurried over, bowing and banging his forehead on the hard tiled floor so hard Yuugi suspected it must have hurt. The old man gestured for this young man to accompany him, and after the begging his leave, they both quickly and quietly left the fountain garden. Several armed men, Siamun's own guards, were left at their posts, silent statutes of living flesh standing by every exit and entrance. They assumed their watchful positions in lieu of their master's departure.

Alone again, save for the puttering of the silent female presences of slaves going about their tasks, Yuugi played self-consciously with the hem of his kilt. His stomach was flip-flopping like a fish out of water and his lungs seemed bereft of air, or the ability to know how to breathe it. He wasn't sure if he was frightened or nervous, feeling sure the heat of the afternoon had little to do with the steady, uncomfortable churning in his body and in his head. Insides twisting and turning, he suspected, and hoped, he didn't look as green as he felt. The last thing he needed right now was an anxiety attack!

_It's just Atem,_ he weakly attempted to reassure himself. _This is the same man you've spent the last few days out in the desert with. The only difference is setting and social occasion. Around others, he's a god, and in private, he's a man, and only a man. _

Only he wasn't, not really, which was the crux of the whole problem.

When Atem had moved from the fountain and had seated himself beside him, Yuugi couldn't remember. One moment he was a safe distance away, the next he was at Yuugi's side. He watched the smaller man closely, as if he were trying to figure something out. Fighting back the urge to bolt, Yuugi simply smiled widely and squeezed his kneecaps to hide the trembling in his hands.

Atem reached over and settled his hand over his. Yuugi looked down. Even now he marveled at the contrasts of their skin tones. He seemed almost pale and sickly next to the beautiful golden-brown of Atem. The man was a walking poem, a physical manifestation of visual perfection.

_And if that description of my thoughts doesn't show how bad I have it for him, I don't know what does._ Deeply troubled, Yuugi turned his chin away and averted his gaze. He wasn't going to make it, he realized with a dawning horror. Not if he kept allowing even such innocent touches, he wasn't going to be able to keep his focus. _Why, why did he have to seduce me?_ He mentally bewailed his predicament. Why did fate move in to give him the sweet nectar of nirvana if he was fated never to partake of it? What a cruel god that ruled this ancient world!

He jerked when he felt Atem's strong fingers clasp his chin and gently force his head to turn so that they were looking at one another. Atem's solemn gaze searched Yuugi's face, as if he was looking for something. Yuugi resisted the urge to swallow audibly and merely smiled. He hoped the other man couldn't see the beads of sweat forming at his hairline. Forbid it all if his other figured out Yuugi was afraid of him, because in spite of his compassionate nature, Atem was a cunning strategist and not above using such knowledge if it suited him – or his country.

Much to his relief, Atem released him at last and sat back comfortably, stretching his legs out. Whatever he'd seen in Yuugi's face, he seemed satisfied with it, or else he wouldn't have grinned as easily as he did next. "You are a sight second to being envied by the gods, Yuugi."

Yuugi blinked slowly. "What?"

A faint reddish tint stained across Atem's nose and cheeks. This time, it was he who shifted his eyes quickly away. "Nothing," he mumbled uncomfortably.

_Nothing my ass,_ a sarcastic response piped up from the back of Yuugi's mind. _If he didn't just say I was attractive, then Kaiba's ego isn't one fourth the size of earth's moon! _His mouth stayed closed and his expression betrayed not a single twitch. Instead he started swinging his legs back and forth in a carefree manner, making the impression of taking in his surroundings readily. It wasn't that hard to do. Yuugi truly was interested in having a better look around the place.

"So," he began eagerly, "how long do you suppose we'll have to wait until we get a response from Seth?"

"A week, most likely," Atem replied, appearing relieved at the change of subject. "If weather conditions abide favorably, of course," he added softly in afterthought, gazing at the very blue sky above. A light breeze stirred the golden forelocks framing his face and he closed his eyes, smiling at the faintly pleasurable sensation.

The air of tension had eased. Once more the king stretched out his legs, eventually crossing them at the ankle. It was such an outrageously casual posture, Yuugi couldn't help cracking a small smile. It was nice to know he wasn't the only one trying to put on a brave front.

"Wow, that long?" he murmured, gazing at the sky too, marveling in its flawlessness. Too bad text messaging hadn't been invented yet. When Atem shot him a look that spoke yards about how strange he thought Yuugi's dismay was: _How long did you expect it to take?_ Yuugi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm… just not used to how things are done around here yet."

Amusedly, Atem smirked. "Well, not all of us have, what do you call them again? Mo-bile tel-e-phones?" Yuugi nodded. "It would be a rather convenient magic," he mused with a faint shake of his head. "What would I give if my God Pyramid were capable of such an act!" He stroked the glittering side of the gold pendent absently. Suddenly he withdrew from his reverie and turned to his future counterpart with sudden interest. "Do you still have that deck of cards?"

Yuugi glanced around, looking for his back pack, remembered that it had been left by the bathing area, and shrugged. "Yes, it's with my things by the pool. What," he felt excitement lick up and down his spine, "do you want me to teach you a few games?"

Atem pulled up a leg and laid an arm over the crook of his knee. "I should like nothing more. Perhaps afterward you would honor me then by allowing me to teach you how to play senit?"

Unable to help the brilliant grin from lighting up his face, Yuugi hopped to his feet quickly. "You got it!" He moved to leave but then Atem held up his palm and he stopped. "What?"

Atem glanced around the garden and motioned to one of the girl servants. She put down the basket she was carrying and bowed. "Retrieve my guest's possessions."

The girl bowed again, assented, and then scurried off to do Atem's bidding.

* * *

_*Thank you (to a man)_

**_Reference to cacti removed as recent research has revealed to me cacti do not grow in Africa._

***_A famous American poet (1874-1963); the actual stanza Yuugi references is "And miles to go before I sleep" from a well-known poem Frost wrote titled, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." _

****Time After Time (1979) _a time travel thriller starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen_

_*****ancient name of modern day Sudan_

**Author's Note on spelling and meanings of names**: _There are several ways of spelling ancient Egyptian names. For instance, according to the readings I've done on the subject, Amun, Amon, and Ammon are all considered correct spellings for the name of that god, as is Ra or Re for the sun god. Set or Seth is also considered correct. Usually I use the Set spelling but in order to differentiate between the god and the character in this story, I've chosen to spell this name in the manner in which I have. Nefer means 'beautiful' in the ancient Egyptian language and Layla means 'dark beauty' in Arabic/African. "Layla" is also the title to a well-known Eric Clapton song. As for the spelling of the name of the game of senit, I am using a spelling I once read in a novel, although I understand there are varied spellings of that word as well. _


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The next few days were an absolute torture for Atem. It was an odd sensation, this restlessness, and he pondered endlessly as to why. In general he was very good at waiting. His patience at long, trying games, and negotiating with tough leaders of other countries was next to legendary. Many times he had sent hardened military men into frothing-at-the-mouth throes of aggravation when pitted against his unyielding persona. His silences and his self-control were his weapons of choice and they had won him the day time and again.

This time the tables were turned. Now it was _he_ that was on the business end of his own fading patience, for his anxiousness stemmed not only from concern for country, but concern for himself personally. From where he stood, how he was perceived in the eyes of others. Did they see him as a strong and calculable leader, still, or a spineless coward, fleeing in the dead of night through a lake of blood? How did his priests see him?

How did Yuugi see him?

These things and more were what kept him awake lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. The moon poured through the few scattered small cracks and fissures in Siamun's elegant home, each tiny shaft a white knife impaling the arid darkness.

Without a sound he drew in a deep breath and very slowly exhaled, deflating gradually.

_This waiting to see where the pieces fall where they may, without my hand to guide them… I do not like it_, Atem thought uneasily. _Its very volatility is one I am unaccustomed to, its character unlike any I have encountered before._

Becoming the victim of his fate, his own destiny unascertained, rather than its architect; it was too much that was out of his control, too many variables going unseen. Pharaoh was supposed to be the master of his domain. Now something – or someone – else, an unseen adversary, had taken the reins, shaping the future as he or she saw fit. Atem was loath to admit it even to himself, it terrified him unspeakably.

A soft rustle to his left drew him from his contemplations, reminding him he wasn't alone. He turned his head and regarded the servant girl lying beside him. Nefer, nude under the bedclothes, her long, lovely hair artfully spread in a black skirt around her head. Her face was exquisite in repose, untroubled by the demands of her simple life. Having caught the eye of the most powerful man in her world for even a brief amount of time, should she prove gravid, could change her life forever. If not, then she would carry the memory of this night's joining in her mind: that she had once shared her bed with a god. For an instant, he envied her station. Someone like her could live evermore on a single moment to guide her through the more ordinary aspects of her existence. To him, she had been a temporary, if pleasant, distraction, to be forgotten with the passage of time.

Atem lifted a hand and moved a lock of hair gently away from her face, gazing at the young woman for a while, with unseeing eyes.

Taking Siamun's servant to his bed to satiate his longing for his travel companion and protector probably had not been the apposite way to go. Yet pragmatically he could not afford to waste time on meaningless things like his true desires. Bedding Yuugi, a wonderful and delightful a prospect as it was, when put to reality, accomplished next to nothing. Nefer was lowborn, and a slave, but she _was_ Egyptian, and more importantly, she was a woman. She could give him what every king desperately needed: an heir. All of his concubines and would-be Chief Wives were dead now. No opportunity could be wasted. Being particular about the status of the child's mother couldn't cut it anymore – not as far as he saw the situation.

_Not that it would have mattered to me_.

Atem rolled over on his back again. It was just as well: Yuugi seemed especially eager to put distance between them, even if his eyes, when looked into, and his body when Atem touched him, whispered something very different.

He closed his eyes, thinking back to the card game they had played together earlier. This latest in the many games of Yuugi's card deck had been called Slaps, which was also known as - Yuugi had paused with a gleam in his eye - Egyptian Ratscrew. Atem had not recalled what sort of expression he had worn on his face, but he vividly remembered Yuugi laughing at his reaction.

It had been a diverting, progressively combative, game. There was so much slapping down of cards and shouts of victory or dismay, there were times passing servants and guards made pause to stare at the two young men in puzzlement of their antics. Even Siamun came out once to see what the commotion was about. They had played many more interesting, more complicated games after that, with other equally strange names like 'Old Maid,' 'Blackjack,' and the one player game, 'Solitaire.'

"For those times," Yuugi said with that captivating smile of his, "when you don't have me around to play against."

Perhaps it was the work of his overactive imagination (and he knew himself to be the owner of quite a creative mind) but Atem could have sworn those words had carried an ominous undertone to them. It was as if Yuugi knew something he didn't. A dark shadow lingered behind those clear violet eyes. Atem turned on his side and stared across the room at the open window, gazing out into the blue-black realm above.

Sleep was a long time coming for him.

* * *

In another, smaller, yet less elegantly furnished room, on the other end of the elderly priest's estate, Yuugi wasn't having much luck in the forty winks department either. In fact, he was convinced he was afflicted with insomnia. Even though he was incredibly comfy in his bed and finally had been able to achieve some semblance of respite, he could not seem to locate the off switch in his brain. Considering what he had almost let happen earlier this evening, he reddened at the memory, _was_ it any wonder he couldn't get any sleep?

Yuugi ground his sharp top teeth over his tongue to prevent a tortured groan from escaping his lips. Those last ten minutes before he turned in for the evening had to have been the most embarrassing 600 seconds of his entire existence as Mutou Yuugi, King of Games, Once-Bearer of the Millennium Puzzle, savior of the world, tamer of egomaniacal CEOs, friender of friends.

It had started so innocently too! After accompanying Yuugi to the guest quarters and helping him get ready to settle in for the night, as usual, suddenly Layla shocked him by sexually propositioning him. And it was that she had done it in the hottest manner he'd ever seen since watching Jounouchi's porn videos that shocked him more than the fact she'd done it! All while still never saying a single word. He had learned a few days ago from Nefer Layla was a 'mute' and could not speak.

So what did he do like the well-versed and modern-thinking man he was?

_I refused her_. Here was a young male college student's wet dream come to life in the best fucking setting imaginable and Yuugi had, by every synonym of the definition, chickened out. He'd watched her go with an ache in his groin and a fire in his face he was pretty sure – pretty _damn_ sure - would probably leave third degree burns in the morning.

_What, exactly, the fuck is wrong with me? _He smothered his face in his pillow, vocalizing his anguish into the rough sewn linen. _First Atem, who only has to _look_ at me in a certain way to make me hard and now an Anzu look-alike with a chest to die for. Let's face it, Yuugi; even though you dig Atem, you still get happy in the pants at the thought of Anzu doing a striptease for you._

Which had been precisely what Layla had done, except, it _hadn't_ been a _tease_ it had been a genuine _offer_. The young woman just started removing her clothes in a slow suggestive manner that had kept him in mind-drooling state of hypnosis until he'd felt the pert bud of her breast under his palm… then he'd reacted as if he'd been burned by a hot skillet.

_I may as well have been_.

Layla left the room with a frown on her brow and a pout on her lips, while Yuugi angrily grasped the restless traitor between his legs, wondering fervently if there wasn't some drug he could take to stop these things from happening to his body. When Shadi had ordered him to go back in time, he had said he had to protect the pharaoh and he intended to do that with every fiber of his being. If he couldn't indulge his lust (and love) for Atem, he would not indulge it, period._ End of story._

Yuugi blew a sigh out from between his lips and spoke to the ceiling. "This was so much easier when it was just card games."

* * *

Wearisome distractions aside, while waiting for word from Kush, Yuugi admitted they probably couldn't be much safer than they were right now. At least he _hoped_ so. Not a paranoid person by nature, Yuugi tried very hard to keep from falling into a state of complacency. So in spite of Siamun's reassurances, he refused to let his guard down. He dumped his sandals before putting them on, he inspected his food, sniffed it, and made whoever brought it taste it first. He refused to let Atem eat anything without making sure the slave who'd brought it had sampled it first, and then after that, he refused to let him eat alone. He made rounds of the gardens and the fountains and the rooms of the small estate daily, checking under rocks, benches, tables and stools. When asked by various servants and guards what he was looking for, Yuugi had replied: "Anything that shouldn't be in those places."

He even took to watching Atem in the baths, and he stood by warily, sentinel like, while the man enjoyed a massage.

Atem seemed amused by Yuugi's hyper vigilance and folded his arms nonchalantly under his chin as the slave expertly kneaded his shoulder and back muscles. "You need not be so concerned, Yuugi," he admonished, a smirk curling up one corner of his mouth. "I am not going to vanish before your eyes. I doubt with such close attention my would-be adversary would dare make a move," he added teasingly.

_This man is making a career out of embarrassing me._ Yuugi refused to be deterred, mutely crossing his arms over his chest, heedful of the small bejeweled collar resting loosely around his collarbone and shoulders. He sorely detested the stupid, gaudy thing. It was upon Atem's insistence Yuugi remain attired as if he were a member of royalty. Yuugi found his persistence peculiar because he _definitely_ recalled explaining to the young king he was neither of noble blood, nor of any consequence at all where he was from.

The masseur's efforts were showing, for Atem's eyes were drooping at half-mast with evident pleasure. "You are much too tense," he murmured, tilting his head slightly so the man could get at his neck. "Perhaps a massage for _you_ would not be out of order?" He closed his eyes lazily.

"No thank you," Yuugi responded a little too quickly, he thought. "I'm good."

Atem opened one eye to cast him a doubtful look. "Are you positive?"

"Entirely." Yuugi spoke stiffly, already pushing the exchange aside in favor of scanning the rest of the bathing area.

The eye closed again. Atem gave a half-hearted shrug, as if to say 'suit yourself' before turning languidly over on his back, crossing his arms behind his head this time. At length he inhaled gradually and exhaled in a great show of contentment. "That will be all," he commanded softly. "Thank you, Bak."

The masseur deeply bowed to his king, gathered the tools and lotions of his trade, and departed gracefully, along with the female slaves who regularly aided Atem with his bathing. Yuugi was constantly amazed how one person needed so many people just for one activity: one to wash him, one to do his hair, one to dry him, and yet still another to perfume and attire him.

Well, not exactly, since Atem always waved away the slave who would have normally dressed him. Instead he requested Yuugi do so. Later when he had asked him why, Atem had explained he did not want to let anyone get too close. While he was being dressed was the _perfect_ unguarded moment to strike, even if someone _were_ watching over him.

It was an ill-making thought.

Yuugi watched Atem clothe himself to varying degrees of success. He figured out his linen kilt and shirt easily enough, slipped on the armlets, bracelets and anklets with little difficulty but when it came to the earrings and the crown, he seemed to hit a snag.

Yuugi hid a smile and walked over. "I can help you with that?" he offered, hand out. "Finding those holes can be tricky," he explained.

Wordlessly Atem dropped the earrings in Yuugi's palm and held still while he sat beside him on the massage table. Yuugi became aware of every glance, ghost of a breath upon skin, and every accidentally brush of skin against skin. At last came the crown which needed to be arranged a certain way to sit exactly right amongst the forest of spikes.

"You almost don't even need it," Yuugi teased, absently tucking back the golden tresses, letting his fingers run, dance and card through each jagged lock gently. "I think anyone would know you for you, with or without the crown." He ended the contact by patting Atem once on the cheek and smiling. He pretended not to notice the faint flush in the young king's nose and cheeks, and tried not to pay attention to the way his scarlet gaze followed him.

"Do you delight in this?" A quiet murmur behind him made him freeze in his tracks. Yuugi's heart leapt into his throat.

"No," he replied, not bothering to feign ignorance of what he meant. Yuugi kept his back to the other man, unable to face him; he could not let Atem see the world of misery on his own features. He didn't need to see any of that right now.

_I'm doing both of us a favor,_ he silently plead, _please, Atem, you know why I do this._

Cleansing his face of expression, he turned and faced the equally stony faced monarch. Sweat creased his palms yet his voice when he spoke was steady and unyielding. He needed to be careful – who knew who was listening to them now – and they shouldn't know the extent of their relationship ran any deeper than close friendship. He could not refer too much to their past intimacy and have it be thought of as such.

"I may not have the country to think of," he intoned unassumingly, "but I do have you. I beg of you not to address this matter again, my lord, please."

Atem could not fail to hear the note of anxiety in Yuugi's overly formal tone. The crease in his forehead became more pronounced. A short-lived flash of anger flickered across his face. He opened his mouth once and then closed it again, grudgingly.

Now came the hard part. To further solidify the distance between them there was only way to do that: make a convincing show of obeisance. He purposely averted his gaze downward, knelt to the ground and stooped. He hated to do this. It needed to be done.

Almost as if he had timed it for this moment, Siamun entered the bathing area in a burst. Taking no note of the kneeling younger man, he rushed past him over to the young pharaoh. Yuugi took no offense. After all, neither Atem nor Yuugi had tried to establish Yuugi's importance going any further than one of savior and honored servant. In going along with court politics, Yuugi's presence and input were solely in accordance to Atem's will. What it amounted to was being ignored by everyone unless Atem said differently. Obviously he had not.

_It's okay. The less impact I make, beyond ensuring Atem's immediate safety, the better. I don't _want_ to be important._

Siamun waved around a length of papyrus with much excitement. Atem drew to his feet, his attention fully focused on his favorite celebrant. Curious, Yuugi sat on his heels, watching the scene unfold, content in his peripheral anonymity.

"Sire!" the elderly man exclaimed. "Seth has responded!" He chattered on as Atem scanned the epistle. "He has left Kush in the capable hands of the local Medjay and his personal assistant and has departed immediately! He endeavors to round up the rest of the priesthood and plan to arrive together in a week!"

_It only took an entire week for him to get that message, _Yuugi thought, his shoulders slumping. _Now it's going to take _another_ one for them just to make it here. Geez! I've forgotten how long things actually take when the only mode of hi-tech communication available is a _bird_._

Atem lowered the dispatch with a broad smile. "This is better news than I could have expected so shortly." He looked over to Yuugi expectedly, smirking. "It seems the gods are moving things along expediently, Yuugi, would you not agree?"

Yuugi was a good actor too, better probably, and showed his bright sunny mask for the world to see.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I do."

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could have sworn Atem's fingers curled into that piece of papyrus a little more tightly just then.

There were more mature ways of dealing with these types of situations. Had to be. Unfortunately for Yuugi, he had neither the experience, nor the courage to deal with it effectively. He doubted even if there had been someone he could speak with, they wouldn't know what to do either. How do you explain the intricacies of time paradoxes to a pharaoh whose only concern is he's besotted with you when he knows he shouldn't be? He doubted even if he actually knew anything about time paradoxes, if such a thing applied to them, he'd bother explaining them. To Atem, he might as well have spoken gibberish.

_Oh, for crying out loud, to Set and the underworld with it!_ Yuugi finally thought irritably after a few days of ruminating about it. _I'm not fooling anyone, least of all me._ He positively curdled when he spotted Nefer enter the pharaoh's chambers in the evenings, because he knew _exactly_ why she was going in there. And she went in a lot, he noticed, almost every night since the first time he noticed her midnight prowling-about. Always just before sunrise she sneaked out again, clothes rumpled, her endless mane of ebony hair adorably mussed, stealing away down the dim corridors back to her own chambers, or wherever it was she normally slept, clutching her clothes as she scampered quickly away, stark naked.

Just as well he's been satisfying his eternal libido with the servant girl, Yuugi consoled himself grumpily. _I don't think I could have been enough for someone who is in _that_ in need of getting laid. God, I can't _believe_ he's like this, it's like… it's like he's _daring_ his enemy to make a move on him. 'Here I am, relaxed and chilling, being all pharaoh of Egypt, bedding hot servant girls and getting massages, come and get me if you dare!'_

That's when it hit Yuugi. He carefully set down the reed mats he was carrying and straightened up, the astonished thought occurring to him so suddenly his mouth fell partway open in realization.

_And maybe that…is exactly what he's doing._


End file.
